


(your hand across my) Heartbeat

by g_odalisque13



Category: EXO (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band), SHINee
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Babies, Established Relationship, F/M, Female Ejaculation, Fluff, Mates, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Pegging, Pregnancy, Pregnant Sex, Romance, Schmoop, Slice of Life, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 05:03:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6270625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/g_odalisque13/pseuds/g_odalisque13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even though unplanned pregnancy between a female alpha and a male omega is nearly unheard of, Chanyeol is living proof that it’s possible. Getting pregnant by his beautiful alpha, Gwiboon, is certainly not the worst thing that could have happened. In fact, it might be the best.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(your hand across my) Heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

> Read on [LJ](http://g-odalisque13.livejournal.com/95026.html).

Chanyeol leaned against the sink, plastic stick pinched between his thumb and forefinger in his shaking hand.

Taking a deep breath and holding it for four counts before letting it out, he looked again at the two little pink lines.

This couldn’t be real.

Sure, Chanyeol had taken the pregnancy test because he'd entertained the option that he could be pregnant, but he hadn’t _really_ thought he was. He'd just been feeling off for the past few weeks- nauseous in the mornings and extra fatigued the rest of the time.

When he'd complained to Baekhyun, his best friend had teased him, asking if he'd gotten knocked up. At the time, Chanyeol had laughed it off, asking Baekhyun if his alpha was planning to get him pregnant soon. But when he was still feeling like shit a week later, he'd decided to just take an at home pregnancy test so he could eliminate the possibility and then maybe make a doctor's appointment to see if he'd caught a bug.

He hadn't actually been expecting to be-

He didn't think he really was-

Chanyeol closed his eyes against a wave of nausea, unsure of whether it was his now-usual sickness or if it was brought on by the shock.

It could certainly be worse, he reminded himself when he was pretty sure he wasn't going to need to dive for the toilet to empty his stomach. He could have been an unmated omega who'd gotten pregnant from a one night stand. He'd heard the stories, had known an omega in college who had ended up dropping out to give birth and take care of her baby.

Chanyeol was mated, had been for almost three years now, and was in a steady and comfortable relationship. They'd talked about kids- something they both wanted at some point. But him getting pregnant now was certainly not something they'd planned.

It was almost unheard of- an unplanned pregnancy between a female alpha and a male omega. A rare pairing as it was, most in their position had to try for a few months with special devices and sometimes fertility drugs to achieve pregnancy. But here Chanyeol was, knocked up by his female alpha when they hadn't even tried. He almost wanted to laugh, it was so absurd.

The funny thing was that he was pretty sure he could pinpoint when it had happened.

Gwiboon, his beautiful alpha, had been rubbing herself against his erection- sliding against the smooth flesh and making them both moan as her fingers clutched tight to his shoulders as she bit his neck. When she'd come, Chanyeol had felt the way her release dripped down over his balls and perineum to his hole. He'd felt his body clench down instinctively at the wetness against his opening, and he'd come so hard at the idea of Gwiboon holding him open and coming against his entrance so her release flowed into him. 

He'd never thought that that little drip was enough to really get him pregnant. The odds were low when a female alpha ejaculated directly into a male omega's anus, even with upwards of a cup of release. So one little drop... Chanyeol had never even heard of this happening. He'd been warned in health class when he was fourteen, mostly of getting knocked up by a male alpha who would want to knot him and come inside him with no protection. And the health teacher had briefly warned that being with a female alpha could also lead to pregnancy, but even the teacher hadn't seemed legitimately concerned that a male omega would be at much risk with a female alpha.

And yet...

Chanyeol set the test down on the sink and made his way to the living room of his and Gwiboon's apartment, slumping down on the couch and pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes.

He thought maybe he wanted to cry. Not out of sadness. He _did_ want kids. But...this just wasn't part of the plan at all. What would Gwiboon think? She'd just gotten a promotion at her job, now one of the head stylists for the clothing brand she worked for. She was constantly busy at photoshoots, styling for catalogues and ad campaigns. Surely she wasn't planning for a kid when her career was just taking off. 

Chanyeol's DJ gig at an XM radio station might not have been the worst job to have as his belly grew over the next few months, but there was no way of knowing whether they’d hold his spot when he inevitably had to go on maternity leave. 

Blowing out a breath, Chanyeol was at least grateful that he didn't work that afternoon. He certainly didn't feel like he was up for putting on a high energy show when he was so unbalanced that he felt like he needed to lie down.

A glance at his watch revealed that Gwiboon would be home in two hours. 

On one hand, Chanyeol was grateful for the time so he could wrap his head around the situation a bit more before he had to break the news. But on the other hand, he couldn't wait for Gwiboon to get back. He just wanted his alpha against his side as he processed everything. He wanted her comforting scent and her fingers running through his hair until he didn't feel like he was going to tremble his way out of his own skin. 

Chanyeol was a little worried about her reaction- whether she'd be disappointed, stressed, afraid. But he knew that ultimately they'd figure everything out. He knew that she'd be there for him no matter what.

Just the thought had him tearing up a bit, swiping at his eyes with his shaking fingertips.

God, he was a mess. He really needed Gwiboon, no matter how thrown off he still was. He needed Gwiboon. He wanted to work through his with her. They'd figure it out. They'd figure it out together, and everything would be okay.

 

\---

 

"People can be so damn stupid, I swear to god!" Gwiboon exclaimed when she let herself into their apartment. "The new junior stylist basically called the model fat. How fucking dumb can you be? Even _I'm_ not that tactless."

Chanyeol usually would show the right amount of sympathy about whatever Gwiboon was complaining about before gently reminding Gwiboon about the five minute rule Chanyeol had read about and tried to adhere to- not complaining or saying anything negative within the first five minutes of being reunited after either of them had been gone for a few hours or so. Gwiboon often couldn't help herself- very passionate and opinionated- but she did try, too.

That day, though, Chanyeol couldn't even bring himself to act normally for any amount of time. He could feel his news weighing on him until he wasn't sure he could take a breath without it spilling out.

"I mean, of _all_ the things to say to a _model_ ," Gwiboon griped, dropping her purse on a chair as she came into the living room. "She might as well hav-"

She stopped mid sentence when she caught sight of Chanyeol sitting hunched over on the couch, his face probably giving his anxiousness away.

"What's wrong?" she asked, taking a couple quick steps toward the couch before hesitating.

"It's," Chanyeol started, voice shaking, "it's not bad. I mean, I don't think it is? I hope you don't think it's bad."

"What is it?" Gwiboon asked again, obviously distressed by Chanyeol’s behavior. 

Chanyeol had considered handing over the pregnancy test so he wouldn't have to say anything, but ultimately he'd decided that was a cheap shortcut, not to mention probably not the way to go when he didn't know exactly how Gwiboon was going to react. Plus, he didn't think she would appreciate holding something he'd peed on, even if the part she'd be touching obviously wouldn't be the part he'd peed on.

Chanyeol blew out a breath. He could do this. It was going to be okay. They'd make it okay.

"I'm pregnant," he finally said, watching Gwiboon closely for her reaction.

Brows furrowed, Gwiboon barked out a surprised laugh before she seemed to realize that Chanyeol really wasn't kidding.

" _How_?" she asked, and he saw the doubt that flashed across her face that maybe he'd been with someone else. It hurt that she even had that miniscule doubt, but he could barely blame her. He knew how unbelievable it was that he'd accidentally gotten pregnant by her. 

"Remember that time a couple weeks ago? In the middle of the afternoon on top of the duvet?"

"Yeah?" she replied, looking confused.

"I felt some of your cum drip down into me," he explained, feeling his cheeks heat a bit. Saying it out loud sounded crude when at the time, it had felt so intimate- so right.

"But just a drip? Is it even _possible_ to get pregnant from that?"

Chanyeol shrugged. "Apparently."

Gwiboon dropped onto the couch next to him, exhaling hard enough that she seemed to deflate.

"You took a test? Or you went to the doctor?"

"I took a test," he told her, watching her curvy lips turn down at the corners as she appeared to be deep in thought. 

Chanyeol felt his heart drop down to his feet. He didn't want her to be frowning. He wanted her to be happy. But he knew that it wasn't fair to expect that right away. She needed time to process everything like he had. Like he still was.

"We should make you an appointment to make sure," Gwiboon said, nodding decisively to herself.

Chanyeol agreed, but his stomach was in knots not knowing how Gwiboon felt.

"Why are you crying?" Gwiboon fussed, leaning over to put her face in Chanyeol's line of sight, perfectly shaped brows pinched in worry.

"Sorry," Chanyeol said thickly, not even knowing why he was crying and not even having realized that he was until Gwiboon had pointed it out. It had been a long day. He was emotionally and physically exhausted, and having Gwiboon next to him was both a relief and a worry since he wasn't sure if she was upset about everything. "I'm just- Please don't be mad."

That hadn't been exactly what he'd wanted to say, but he'd started crying harder and he couldn't gather himself enough to make the correction.

"Mad?" Gwiboon asked, feline eyes wide. "Baby, why would I be mad? Unless it's not mine-"

Chanyeol immediately and frantically shook his head.

"It's yours," he managed. "Of course it's yours."

"Then why are you crying?" she asked, scooting closer to him so her bare leg was pressed against his thigh, and just the proximity had Chanyeol feeling a bit calmer.

"I don't know," he admitted, sniffling and letting Gwiboon brush the tears from his cheeks with her soft fingers. "I just want you to be happy about it because I think I'm happy. I am. I'm really scared and shocked, but I want to have a baby with you and I want you to want it too-"

Gwiboon cut him off with a soft kiss on the lips, the warmth suffusing through him and untangling one of the knots in his stomach.

"I am happy," she told him when she pulled back, her own eyes a bit teary. "I'm sorry I made you think I wasn't. I just- I'm so dumbfounded because I didn't even think it was possible for us to get pregnant by accident. But I want to have a baby with you. I do. So much. Chanyeol, baby, I'm so happy."

Chanyeol let out a helpless sob, body sagging with relief as Gwiboon wrapped her arms around him, letting him pull her against him as he pressed his damp cheek against her neck.

For the first time that day, Chanyeol felt light.

It wasn't their plan, but they were going to have a baby. And knowing that Gwiboon was on board, that she was happy, allowed Chanyeol to drop the tight and bitter tasting worry that had gripped the back of his throat. They were going to have a _baby_.

Chanyeol let out a disbelieving laugh against Gwiboon's hair.

"What?" she asked, pulling back to look at Chanyeol, her eyes still looking a little wet.

"We're having a baby," Chanyeol told her, a giddy laugh bubbling up again.

Gwiboon giggled, seeming just as overwhelmed as Chanyeol felt. She pressed her forehead to his and chuckled.

"We're having a baby," she repeated happily, reverently.

Chanyeol felt a tear slide down his cheek even as he smiled hard.

Gwiboon kissed the tear drop away, placing a soft kiss to his lips right after.

They were going to be okay, Chanyeol just knew it. 

 

\---

Chanyeol had first laid eyes on Gwiboon when he'd been a second semester sophomore in college and he'd sat down in his mandatory history class.

Actually, he'd smelled her first- the thick smell of alpha grabbing his attention and making him turn his head to find the source before his conscious mind had anything to say about it.

Chanyeol had just gotten out of a disappointing relationship with an alpha whose opinion of himself was far too high, so he was enjoying the single life despite the promise of heats spent alone. He wasn't looking for anyone.

But Gwiboon's scent had his gaze searching the classroom to find the offending alpha, anyway. 

And if Gwiboon's smell had been attention grabbing, the sight of her was even more so. 

Chanyeol was used to seeing beauty like hers on the covers of magazines in the grocery store checkout line, not sitting four feet away and tapping against the screen of her phone. 

It was becoming clear that Chanyeol was going to have some trouble focusing in class, but that was the only result he'd predicted from having the entrancing alpha in his class.

Gwiboon plopping down next to him a few weeks into the semester and making a comment about the reading was not something he'd been at all prepared for.

Unfortunately, his stuttering reply made that abundantly clear. But Gwiboon's heady scent, like burning incense, was even more enticing up close.

Over the course of the semester, Chanyeol managed to get his shit together enough to talk to Gwiboon without sounding like a complete idiot, which was good because it seemed that, for whatever reason, Gwiboon had decided that right next to him was the best seat in the classroom.

Gwiboon was ideal like becoming a multimillionaire was a dream. Not something Chanyeol, or anyone in their right mind, was going to turn down, but not something one realistically aimed to acquire. Her cheekbones were sharp enough that they seemed to reflect the generic florescent lights of the classroom, and her feline eyes slanted dangerously as she glanced at him in her periphery to make a joke during class. She had curvy pink lips that looked just as gorgeous when they were pursed as she concentrated as they did when they were stretched across straight, white teeth. But for as intimidating and untouchable as she seemed when she was serious, her loud laugh and the crinkle of her eyes when she smiled had warmth curling in Chanyeol's chest.

Intrigue turned into a crush and that crush grew dangerously with every quirk of Gwiboon's lips in his direction and every touch of her hand on his forearm as she laughed. 

Just when Chanyeol thought that he was doomed to fruitlessly compare every alpha he ever met to Gwiboon only to be disappointed, Gwiboon leaned over before class one day and asked if he wanted to get coffee with her later that week. Her voice had been casual, but her eyes were heavy on his when he hastily nodded, managing to choke out something akin to agreement.

“I don't...fuck on the first date,” he’d told Gwiboon, words swallowed by her lips, insistent against his, as she pressed him back against her apartment door.

“Okay, but,” she'd replied against his mouth before nipping at his jaw on her way to attach her lips to his throat, “if you think about it, the five minutes before every class is equivalent to a really, really long first date. So this is the second date.” 

That was more than good enough for him.

As an omega, he had to be careful; it was all too easy for an alpha to take advantage. But he wanted Gwiboon like he'd never wanted anyone before, and his no sex on the first date rule would get in the way of giving in to Gwiboon like he'd been fantasizing about for months.

So with Gwiboon's logic, he'd ended up on his back on Gwiboon's bed with his pants undone as she stroked him off with nimble fingers, his body surging with every touch and head spinning with the way her scent seemed to have him in a chokehold.

It was like that that he came, choked moans bouncing off her lips where they hovered next to his- her eyes greedily drinking in the way his face contorted and then went slack as the pleasure overcame him.

And with the most intense orgasm he'd ever had still buzzing through his veins and tears caught in his lashes, he'd rolled them over and dove between Gwiboon's eagerly spreading thighs- yanking off her wet panties and feeling a rush of lust anew when the scent of her arousal, like bitter orange, wrapped around him.

“I'm clean, I'm clean,” Gwiboon gasped without Chanyeol having to ask. She must have been able to see how badly Chanyeol wanted to taste her. Or else she wanted that just as badly.

Chanyeol had eaten her out like she was the best thing he'd ever tasted...because she was. And when she orgasmed for him with a cry that must have been audible down the hall, he'd come again untouched.

“You’re staying here,” Gwiboon told him as she'd pulled him up to lie next to her, not protesting at all when Chanyeol immediately cuddled up against her.

It wasn't a request, it was an order. And Chanyeol hadn't had any qualms with following it. 

5 years later and he wasn’t going anywhere.

 

\---

 

The First Trimester

 

\---

 

Chanyeol nervously eyed the waiting room, holding tight to Gwiboon's hand.

As soon as they’d gathered themselves, Gwiboon had gotten on her laptop to research the best doctors specializing in male omega pregnancy, and then she’d made a couple phone calls and gotten him an appointment for the next day. 

It was good to get right in and make sure everything was as it should be, but Chanyeol was still reeling from taking the at-home pregnancy test. Forty-eight hours before, being pregnant wasn’t even on his radar, and now he was sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room and staring at a cork board covered in pictures of babies- most of them smiling happily, many of them asleep, and a few who were fussing. 

_Babies_. All these nameless babies served to remind him that this was really happening.

It still hadn’t completely sunken in yet.

“Park Chanyeol?” a nurse in a pair of purple scrubs with cartoon faces all over the top called from the doorway that led to the examination rooms, a clipboard in her hand and an expectant look on her face.

Given that he and Gwiboon were the only ones currently in the waiting room, it was probably pretty obvious that he was Park Chanyeol. 

Gwiboon was already standing, pulling Chanyeol up with her and greeting the nurse like this wasn’t all completely overwhelming and unbelievable. But one of them had to keep it together, and given that Chanyeol was still trying to wrap his mind around having a _life growing inside of him_ , it made sense that it was Gwiboon. 

Having his vitals taken just felt like a regular check-up, but the sonogram machine looming next to the exam table said otherwise.

“Good afternoon!” the doctor greeted cheerfully as he came in, smile easy like everything was fine and normal and there wasn't anything life-altering in Chanyeol's body. “I'm Dr. Zhang. You must be Chanyeol.”

Dr. Zhang extended his hand to shake, his palm warm and dry against Chanyeol's clammy hand.

“I'm Gwiboon,” Gwiboon introduced when the doctor turned to her. “Chanyeol’s alpha.”

“Nice to meet you both,” Dr. Zhang said with a friendly smile as he went back to pick up Chanyeol’s chart. “So you took a pregnancy test at home, and you think you’re...five weeks along?”

Chanyeol nodded numbly, still unable to reconcile the fact that this was truly his life and _he_ was the one who was pregnant.

“Let's take a look and see if you're right,” Dr. Zhang cheerfully suggested, moving over to the big machine.

The gel that was spread on his belly was cool, though not as cold as he was expecting, but all of his attention was on the monitor as soon as the sensor was against his skin.

It looked like a bunch of fuzzy, wavy lines to him, but he grasped Gwiboon's hand tightly in his own anyway as he watched the movement on the screen.

Dr. Zhang made a sound and Chanyeol nearly jumped he was so tightly wound with adrenaline.

“Yep,” he said, moving the sensor slightly before hitting a key on the keyboard to freeze the image. “Here,” he tapped a blunt fingernail against the screen, “is your baby. And five weeks seems about right.”

Chanyeol felt like someone had squeezed all the air out of his lungs.

“I’ll print this image out for you, and give you a minute.”

It was no surprise to Chanyeol that he couldn't find the words to fit the situation, but Gwiboon's silence was unexpected. She had something to say about everything. 

When he managed to look away from the still, black and white smush on the screen, he found Gwiboon with the hand not choking the life out of his over her mouth and tears trickling down her cheeks.

As though that was some sort of permission, Chanyeol felt a sob bubble up as his vision blurred.

They were having a _baby_. This wasn't a theoretical or a maybe. This was real. This was captured on the screen in front of them- real, tangible _proof_.

Gwiboon's lips against his were wet, from his tears or hers, he didn't know. But he could feel the smile in Gwiboon's kiss, and that was enough to, at least temporarily, turn all the nerves and trepidation and fear into euphoria that swept through him until he was laughing through his tears.

“I can already tell it's going to be the most talented, attractive baby the world has ever seen,” Gwiboon announced, grinning even as she sniffled a bit.

Chanyeol laughed at her overconfident claim, but secretly, he was in complete agreement.

 

\---

“Oh my god. You really _are_ pregnant!” was Baekhyun’s response when Chanyeol and Gwiboon showed up at his and Jonghyun’s shared apartment with “news.”

“Way to ruin the announcement,” Gwiboon sniffed before she had an already crying Jonghyun launching himself at her and nearly knocking her off her feet.

When they'd first gotten together, Jonghyun’s tendency to touch and hug Gwiboon all the time had made Chanyeol uneasy, but now he understood that that was just the alpha’s nature, and that his and Gwiboon's relationship was strictly platonic.

“You guys are gonna be amazing parents,” Jonghyun sobbed, unlatching himself from Gwiboon to hug Chanyeol as well.

“Congrats,” Baekhyun told him when Jonghyun had moved back to Gwiboon to cry all over her and reminisce about how they'd played house as kids.

Chanyeol accepted a much less teary hug from his best friend, beaming as Baekhyun pulled back to cuff him on the shoulder.

“You’re gonna be responsible for a real, live person,” he astutely observed. 

“It's all still sinking in,” Chanyeol admitted with a chuckle, knowing that Baekhyun was just being a shit and now wasn't the time to freak out about that (again).

“Why didn't you tell me you were trying?” Jonghyun whined as he led them to the living room to sit down.

“Because we weren't,” Gwiboon told him.

Jonghyun’s eyes bugged out as he gaped, mouth wide enough that Chanyeol was sure he must have been able to shove a whole fist inside (though he'd heard enough about things Jonghyun could fit in his mouth from Baekhyun who bragged like it was his own ability).

“How-?”

“Well, Chanyeol said that one time, he felt-”

“Nope, nevermind. I don't need to know how, after all,” Jonghyun announced, and Gwiboon cackled.

“We just came from the doctor,” Chanyeol supplied, hoping to head off any more discussion about his sex life.

“Oh!” Baekhyun sat up straighter. “Did you get one of those picture things?”

“A sonogram?” Gwiboon asked, eyebrow quirked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Baekhyun said, sticking his tongue out at Gwiboon while making grabby hands toward Chanyeol.

“Gwiboon has it,” he informed Baekhyun, who sighed and turned his attention to Gwiboon.

Rolling her eyes, she reached into her purse and retrieved the sonogram.

As soon as Baekhyun had it in his grip, Jonghyun was smushed against his side to get a good look as well.

“What am I supposed to be seeing?” Baekhyun asked, turning the picture upside down and then right side up again, even as Jonghyun teared up.

“It's this,” Chanyeol told them, leaning over to point at the little white spot that the doctor had told them was their baby.

“Looks nothing like you,” Baekhyun cracked at the same time Jonghyun said, “It's perfect.”

 

\---

 

“Baby, is it getting worse?” Gwiboon asked, fingers stroking through Chanyeol's sweaty hair as he leaned his forehead against the cool porcelain of the toilet seat.

“Same,” Chanyeol told her, taking a deep breath to try to quell the wave of nausea threatening to surge up and have him retching again.

Gwiboon had been at work in the days since Chanyeol has gone from feeling slightly off to sitting on the bathroom floor every morning. But it was a Saturday, so instead of puking alone, Chanyeol had Gwiboon’s hands soothing against his neck and her soft words as he took a quivering breath.

“My poor baby,” she cooed, nails lightly scratching at his nape. “I'm sorry I haven't been here to take care of you.”

Chanyeol felt his heart swell even as his stomach lurched uncomfortably.

“S’okay,” he got out before he emptied the rest of the contents of his stomach into the toilet bowl.

Gwiboon was really adverse to vomit, even closing her eyes when she threw up and immediately flushing so she'd never have to see it, so it meant a lot that she was there. He'd even tried to shoo her off, knowing how she felt about throwing up, but she'd tsked at him and brushed his hair back from his forehead.

He'd have been able to appreciate it more had he not been clinging to the toilet for dear life.

“Should be done soon,” Chanyeol told her, knowing that he was usually feeling human by mid morning.

Gwiboon hummed sympathetically, gently rubbing his shoulders. Chanyeol focused on that until his stomach finally settled.

“I think it's safe to leave to the bathroom,” Chanyeol said, tentatively making a move to stand.

Helping him up, Gwiboon fussed over him- fixing up his toothbrush for him to brush his teeth and leading him into the living room.

“Do you think you could eat something?”

Chanyeol wrinkled his nose.

“I know, but you should have something in your stomach. It’ll ultimately make you feel better. Saltines? Toast?”

“Toast,” Chanyeol acquiesced, stomach settled enough to eat it by the time Gwiboon brought it to him with a mug of steaming tea.

“Thank you,” he murmured, throat suddenly feeling tight and eyes stinging.

“You’re welcome,” Gwiboon said, sitting down next to him and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Get used to this treatment,” she teased, wiping at the slight moisture on his lower lashes. “This is how it's gonna be until you have that baby.”

“And then I'll go back to taking care of you?” Chanyeol joked even though Gwiboon normally took care of him just as much as he did for her.

“Naturally,” Gwiboon laughed. “Though I think we both might be kind of preoccupied with taking care of someone else.”

Chanyeol's hands closed over Gwiboon's on his belly, still flat and not giving any outward indication of the life inside.

But they both knew it was in there, and Chanyeol's chest was warm with the knowledge. 

 

\---

 

As the commercials started to play, Chanyeol took his headphones off and put his head down on the desk.

Up until then, his morning sickness had ebbed by the time he had to go to the radio station in the afternoon, but that day, he was still feeling nausea rising up every few minutes. He should have eaten something more substantial before leaving the apartment. But still feeling mildly sick, he hadn't felt like it. He could practically hear Gwiboon tsking at him.

“What's wrong with you?” Sehun, the assistant producer of Chanyeol's show, asked, poking him in the shoulder. “You looked like you were dying during those last few minutes before commercial break.”

“Stomach,” Chanyeol grunted, not wanting to waste his precious few minutes of rest talking about what ailed him.

“Go home,” Sehun grimaced. “I don't want to get sick.”

“Not contagious,” Chanyeol said.

“How do you kno-” Sehun started before a knock on the glass wall near Chanyeol's head had him jerking upright. 

Joonmyun, his producer, was gesturing emphatically that the commercials were almost over.

With a sigh, Chanyeol sat up and put his headphones back on, shooing Sehun away from where she was hovering, still looking at him like he might explode or throw up. He was about 75 percent sure that neither of those things were going to happen, but he was going to have to lower that to 62 if Sehun didn’t stop poking at him. 

Sehun finally skulked out to join Joonmyun on the other side of the glass as Chanyeol greeted the listeners and recapped some of the week’s music news, doing his best not to let his discomfort bleed into his voice. 

As he read a couple of tweets pre-selected by Joonmyun to be shared on air, he caught movement on the other side of the glass in his periphery. 

Glancing up, he saw Sehun with her mouth agape and a finger pointed in his direction.

Chanyeol looked around and down at his shirt. No stains, no bugs, no murderers. He didn’t know what she was getting so worked up about.

But when he introduced the next song and turned off his mic, Sehun burst in yelling, “ _Oh my god are you pregnant_?” That cleared things up pretty quickly. 

Chanyeol’s eyes went wide. 

“How is everyone figuring this out so easily?” he wailed.

Sehun, ignoring his distress, squealed and started bouncing. 

“Oh my god, a baby! Will you bring it to work? When are you due?”

“You’re pregnant?” Joonmyun asked as she joined them, rightfully shocked.

Chanyeol sighed. “Yes, I'm pregnant but this song is only three minutes, so maybe now isn't the right time to discuss it.”

“Let's talk after the show,” Joonmyun told him, and Chanyeol’s stomach turned over with nerves this time. What if they wouldn't hold his spot for him? Technically, they couldn't fire him. That much he knew. But there was nothing he could do if they wanted to permanently give his time slot to someone else, and give him a behind the scenes position. Not that there was anything wrong with behind the scenes, but Chanyeol really loved being on air.

“You’re gonna get so huge. I can't wait,” was what Sehun left him with as she exited after Joonmyun, Chanyeol having no time to reply since he had to grab for his headphones to announce the next song.

It was with an unsettled and still slightly queasy stomach that Chanyeol followed Joonmyun to her office after the show. 

Chanyeol generally got along well with Joonmyun, the producer only two years his senior. But despite the fact that she was a beta and not an alpha, she could be a major hardass when she wanted, so Chanyeol was rightfully cautious when dealing with her when she was in business mode.

“So, I’m pregnant,” Chanyeol unnecessarily blurted out when Joonmyun didn't immediately speak.

“I gathered that,” Joonmyun told him with a chuckle. “I assume you were going to tell me at some point, and not just count on Sehun’s outbursts.”

Chanyeol laughed. “Yeah, I was gonna tell you. In...the next couple weeks?”

“How far along are you?”

“Only six weeks. I’m not gonna have to go on maternity leave for a long time!” he was quick to assure her.

“We can work all that out when the time comes,” Joonmyun told him, not appearing particularly concerned.

“I want to keep my slot!” Chanyeol said before he could stop himself.

Joonmyun's eyebrows jumped.

“I know a couple months is a long time to hold it, but I can try to come in really soon after the baby is born. I can-”

“Whoa, slow down,” Joonmyun interrupted, looking a bit bemused. “You can take a normal maternity leave. We’re not gonna give your spot away. We’ll figure something out for when you're gone, but you've got one of the most popular shows. I hope that's not news to you.”

“Well, no…”

“Don't worry so much,” Joonmyun told him with a smile. “And congratulations.”

Chanyeol laughed kind of manically, relieved. “Thank you.”

“Minjung is gonna be so jealous when she hears,” Joonmyun confessed about her mate, slipping out of boss mode.

“Maybe you’ll be going on maternity leave soon, too,” Chanyeol teased with a grin, relaxed now that he knew his pregnancy wasn't going to cost him his position.

“Well, not while you're on maternity leave, anyway,” she hedged. “Someone has to keep Sehun in line.”

The station would surely manage, but Chanyeol knew it was more about Joonmyun’s tendency to be a workaholic than anything else. 

“Tell Gwiboon congratulations from me,” Joonmyun said, and Chanyeol knew not to push it. Surely, Minjung would get her way one day. 

But in the meantime, he had the support of his boss. And he had Sehun...excited about seeing him get huge. 

It was a huge weight off. And just in time considering the weight he'd be putting _on_.

 

\---

 

Chanyeol looked up at the sound of the apartment door being unlocked, unable to stop the grin that spread across his face when Gwiboon stepped inside.

Normally, he'd be on his feet to greet her, but he had a guy from their cable company on the phone trying to figure out why their billing statement wasn't showing up online.

As the guy started rambling about how they'd just switched servers, Gwiboon made her way over to where he was sitting, taking it upon herself to cover the mouthpiece of Chanyeol's cell with her thumb and fitting her lips to his.

The kiss was soft, but heady, with Gwiboon lightly sucking on his lower lip before pulling away and letting go of the phone.

Chanyeol’s head was spinning and he had to ask the guy on the phone to repeat his question.

A cheeky grin was all he got in return when he attempted to shoot her a look that probably didn't look half as put out as he intended.

Gwiboon was peering into the oven at the roast Chanyeol was making for dinner when he finally got off the phone.

“Hi,” he said with a laugh, letting her pull him down for a proper greeting kiss. “How was your day today?”

“Pretty okay,” Gwiboon said with a shrug. “We've almost got everything set for the shoot on Thursday, so that's good. But you know what I was thinking?” 

“Hm?” Chanyeol hummed, checking the oven timer and trying to decide whether he should start the vegetables yet.

“We should get pregnancy pictures taken!”

Chanyeol raised his eyebrows. Professional pictures of him pregnant weren't something he needed, especially knowing how many pictures Gwiboon would inevitably snap on her phone. But if it was something she wanted…

“We could get ones where you're naked- what?” Gwiboon asked at Chanyeol's widened eyes. “That's actually pretty common. Lots of people get them.”

Chanyeol blinked, trying to work out how that was even meant to _look_.

“It’d be super classy,” Gwiboon assured him, waving her hand like she was waving away any thoughts Chanyeol might have had to the contrary. “You'd cover your junk with your hands.”

“That…” Chanyeol started after a pause, “doesn't sound classy in the slightest.”

Gwiboon's cackle let him know she was at least partially joking. Though he suspected that if he was gung-ho, she'd have the whole thing arranged- junk-shielding and all.

“Why are you so eager for naked pictures of me?” Chanyeol laughed, letting Gwiboon crowd him against the counter to kiss him again.

“It _does_ seem like a lot of work when I can just…”

Still pressed against his front, Gwiboon grabbed her cell from her pocket and easily pulled up a compromising picture of Chanyeol that she'd taken a month prior.

Chanyeol felt his face heat.

“Or…”

Gwiboon took her phone back and quickly found a shot that Chanyeol had sent her when she'd been away for work.

“ _Gwiboon_ ,” he whined, embarrassed.

Laughing, Gwiboon muffled his whines with her lips.

“You sent that last one to me. I don't know why you're acting all shy about it now,” Gwiboon teased.

Chanyeol grumbled, but didn't protest when Gwiboon kissed him again...and again until it was way past time to start the vegetables.

 

\---

 

It was hot. So hot. Chanyeol's t-shirt was clinging to him like he'd been sprinting when, in reality, he'd just been sprawled on the couch trying to cool down.

At first he'd thought that maybe the air conditioner had broken before he realized that it was autumn and the air conditioner wasn't even meant to be _on._

A glance at the weather on his phone revealed that there wasn't a heat wave. 

So that left one thing: he was going into heat.

Of course, it wasn't a real, seasonal heat since he was pregnant. But he remembered seeing something about heat symptoms in one of the pregnancy books he'd read.

A quick internet search confirmed that it was common for pregnant omegas to go into false heats since their hormones were all over the place.

Chanyeol checked the time on his phone. Gwiboon wasn't due home for three hours.

She had a shoot that day, so it wasn't likely that she would even be near her phone, but Chanyeol decided to text her anyway, just in case by some miracle she could leave early

_False heat just like the books said...eta?_

He didn't want her to feel like she had to rush home if it wasn't feasible. The last thing he wanted was her to get in trouble at work because of him.

But the arousal slithering through him was only getting more potent by the minute.

It would probably only be ten minutes before he soaked through his boxers.

Heats without an alpha really sucked- Chanyeol had been through plenty when he'd been single. Now he was spoiled. But he got himself up to do what he could to lessen his discomfort while he waited for Gwiboon.

After chugging a bottle of water to make sure he didn't dehydrate, Chanyeol rummaged through the dresser drawer they kept their toys in, locating a plug to at least give his body something to clamp down on.

When he'd first started dating Gwiboon, Chanyeol remembered a friend asking if the fact that Gwiboon didn't have a knot, or a dick for that matter, bothered him. And the answer had been a confident no. If he was really craving something inside him, Gwiboon's fingers or a toy satisfied. But the biggest thing was just having an alpha near, touching him and taking care of him.

So having a plug inside him with Gwiboon off at work was doing very little to soothe the flames licking through him.

It was just his luck that this fake heat hit the one Saturday that Gwiboon was off on a shoot instead of lounging on the couch in a pair of leggings.

A loud banging had Chanyeol jerking, startled. Someone was at the door.

For one delusional moment, he hoped that it was miraculously Gwiboon, home and having forgotten her keys. But he knew he'd have been able to smell her.

He was really in no state to be answering the door, so he made no move to get up. 

Whoever it was knocked again.

“Chanyeol! Come on!” 

Baekhyun.

In the midst of everything, Chanyeol had completely forgotten that he had lunch plans with Baekhyun.

Grumbling, Chanyeol got up and pulled on a pair of sweatpants, doing his best to conceal his arousal.

“Finally,” Baekhyun exulted when Chanyeol opened the door. “I’m starving. Let’s- holy _shit_.”

Baekhyun gaped at him, hand coming up to cover his nose.

“You _reek_ ,” he complained. “How are you in heat? You're _pregnant_.”

If he hadn't been so consumed with his body’s need for an alpha, he'd have made a remark about how grateful he was for the information that he was pregnant, since he definitely didn't know.

“False heat,” Chanyeol said. “Hormones.”

“Jesus,” Baekhyun marveled. “Where the hell is Gwiboon?”

“At a shoot.”

“Ouch,” Baekhyun grimaced. “That sucks.”

Chanyeol nodded. More pertinent information he hadn't already been aware of. 

“It’d offer to lend you Jonghyun, but...”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes. He knew Baekhyun would never “lend” out his alpha, and he knew that Baekhyun knew he didn't want him anyway.

“Do you need anything?” Baekhyun asked, seeming to realize that he had been entirely useless up to that point. “Do you want me to get you take-out?”

“No, I'm fine,” Chanyeol got out, shivering when he unconsciously clamped down on the plug.

“Well, then!” Baekhyun announced, seeming to have noticed the tremble. “I'm gonna leave you to...it…”

Chanyeol thought his cheeks might have flushed, but it was hard to tell when all of his skin felt like it was burning.

“Let me know if you need anything. Or. Not _anything_. But, like, food, or whatever.”

“Bye, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol said, shutting the door before Baekhyun could ramble anymore. He'd probably give Chanyeol shit for closing the door in his face next time they hung out, but Chanyeol would deal with that then.

Sighing in relief, Chanyeol pushed off his constricting sweats and flopped back on the bed face first, unable to stop the instinctive rock of his hips against the mattress.

Fuck. He really hoped Gwiboon would hurry up and come home.

 

\---

 

After two unsatisfying orgasms, Chanyeol almost thought he was hallucinating when he heard a key in the lock and caught a whiff of Gwiboon.

“I got here as soon as I could,” Gwiboon babbled as she burst into the bedroom, already pulling off her dress and stockings.

Chanyeol spurted weakly onto his belly just from the sudden blast of Gwiboon's alpha scent.

“Poor baby,” Gwiboon cooed, seeing the state Chanyeol was in. “I'm here now. What do you want?”

“Anything,” Chanyeol told her, relief and arousal flowing through him as Gwiboon climbed onto the bed, fully naked by then.

She smelled so good. And her lips against his had cool flames licking over his skin.

Before he could even mentally prepare for it, Gwiboon pulled the plug from his body and replaced it with three of her slender fingers.

They didn't fill him as full as the plug, but they felt infinitely better.

With her fingers pumping rapidly into him and her tongue lapping delicately at the tip of his cock, Chanyeol felt his body tighten for release almost immediately.

Gwiboon knew his body as well as he did, pulling back to avoid getting any cum in her hair. But then she was back, licking up the release still clinging to the tip and driving Chanyeol absolutely insane.

The unrelenting movement of her fingers inside him contrasting with the way she lightly teased his cock always had Chanyeol writhing beneath her, trying to get more contact, more stimulation, _more_.

When he came again, Gwiboon worked him through it with a hand stroking his length in tandem with the fingers pumping into him.

Each orgasm had temporary relief surging through him as pleasure consumed every sense, but he could still feel the need simmering beneath his skin when the ecstasy faded.

Before he even had to ask for more, Gwiboon was rifling through the dresser and stepping into her harness and attaching Chanyeol's favorite toy to the front.

Then she was over him again, bracing herself by his shoulders and sliding the toy into him easily, his body so slick and ready.

Her rhythm had jolts shaking through him with every thrust of her hips.

There was a nub on the inside of the harness that rubbed against her clit as she fucked him, and Chanyeol groaned at the way her brows pinched in pleasure. 

Gwiboon’s hips rolled into his, sending him higher with every nudge of the toy into his prostate.

This was gonna be the culmination of the hours of arousal he'd just been through. Chanyeol could feel the way everything built up, up, up instead of dropping off with another release.

Just a little bit more- a little bit more and he was going to come, finally getting the relief he needed.

“Almost there?” Gwiboon asked, breasts swaying with her movements. 

Chanyeol nodded, too far gone to speak.

“Baby,” Gwiboon urged. “My baby. My Chanyeol. Come for me.”

Fingers were suddenly around his swollen cock, and that contact along with Gwiboon's breathless urging had Chanyeol arching up, body quivering and tears clinging to his lashes as he came and added to the mess already on his stomach.

Gwiboon shuddered above him, whimpering as her hips ground against him and she found her own peak.

Chanyeol’s eyes were closed as Gwiboon pulled the toy from him and climbed off the bed, returning a minute later with a warm cloth that she used to mop up the remnants of the afternoon from his stomach.

“Feeling better?” Gwiboon asked against his ear, settling herself next to him on the bed.

Humming in affirmation, Chanyeol gathered enough energy to toss a leaden arm over Gwiboon’s waist. 

“Hope you didn’t get in trouble for leaving early,” he murmured, relaxing even further into the mattress as Gwiboon snuggled right up against him.

“Don’t worry about that,” she told him, lips ghosting over his jaw as she spoke. “We were almost done with the shoot when I got the text, anyway. And my boss knows my mate is pregnant, so she was understanding.”

“Did you tell her why you had to leave?” Chanyeol asked, feeling his ears burn at the idea of Gwiboon’s boss and possibly co-workers knowing that she had to leave because he was in false heat.  
“Yeah,” Gwiboon said nonchalantly. “But I don’t think anyone can possibly be scandalized by anything after that time one of the models went into heat in the middle of a shoot and triggered the other model’s heat…” Gwiboon snickered in recollection. “That was a weird day.”

Chanyeol remembered the story from Gwiboon telling him the day it had happened. Two of the models they used frequently were in a relationship, and it wasn’t uncommon of for omegas who were intimate to set off one another’s heats. 

Still, Chanyeol hoped that Gwiboon’s boss would forget about why Gwiboon left early before he had to go to an event at Gwiboon’s work again. Even if no one thought anything of it, Chanyeol didn’t really want that in the back of anyone’s mind when he was making small talk with them over hors d'oeuvres.

“Thank you,” Chanyeol said after a moment, “for coming home.” 

“Of course, baby,” Gwiboon replied, lips pressing a path across his neck and palm resting against Chanyeol’s abdomen that was maybe protruding just a little more than normal if he looked at himself in the mirror at just the right angle. 

It was with Gwiboon’s warmth and scent surrounding him that he drifted off into a peaceful sleep. 

 

\---

 

The Second Trimester

 

\---

 

“This is so exciting!” Jongdae enthused, setting out tea for the four of them- Chanyeol, Gwiboon, herself, and her mate, Jinki. 

Gwiboon had known Jinki since college, so they occasionally got together with him and Jongdae for dinner or drinks. However, since Jongdae had given birth a year prior, they hadn't had as many opportunities to meet.

“Really, congratulations,” Jinki told them sincerely, pulling out a chair and sitting next to Gwiboon. 

“Thank you,” Chanyeol replied with a smile as Gwiboon elbowed Jinki for being so sentimental.

“You're how many weeks in?” Jongdae asked, settling in at the table with a baby monitor next to her mug of tea.

“Just about fourteen,” Chanyeol answered, Gwiboon beaming at him as though he had accomplished some great feat.

“Second trimester, then,” Jinki said, nodding knowingly.

Chanyeol remembered when they'd met up for dinner when Jongdae had been seven months pregnant, belly protruding under her dress, and Jinki beaming proudly next to her as they talked about all they were doing to plan for the baby.

At the time, having a baby of their own had seemed like such a far off idea. But here they were, just over a year later, expecting their own.

“Are you going to let the doctor tell you the sex of the baby when they know?” Jongdae wondered.

Chanyeol looked to Gwiboon. They hadn't actually talked about that yet. There had been passing comments and what ifs about the baby being a boy or a girl, but they hadn't discussed if they wanted to know prior to the birth. 

“We’ll see,” Gwiboon said easily with a shrug.

“Part of me wanted it to be a surprise,” Jongdae confessed, pausing to take a swallow of tea. “But we were able to plan ahead better knowing.”

“And it wasn't as though it could have possibly been a disappointment,” Jinki added. “It actually just made it more exciting.”

Jongdae nodded, smiling in recollection. “Being able to give her a name before even having her made it so much more real.”

A full-bodied cry came through the monitor as though on cue.

“Be right back,” Jongdae apologized, standing up from the table and hurrying down the hall in the direction of the nursery.

How different it would be to have their lives revolve around a baby. The sound of a baby’s cries would be a sound they were more than familiar with in a few months’ time. It was hard to believe that they were going to be _parents_. Somehow that thought hadn't registered fully before.

“Look who’s up!” Jinki said happily as Jongdae reentered the room with a somewhat groggy looking Sunyoung in her arms.

Jinki comfortably took Sunyoung from Jongdae, balancing the one year old on his knee, no sign of the uneasiness he'd confessed to having when he'd first become a father. 

Chanyeol felt himself smiling at the idea of being able to hold his and Gwiboon's baby on his lap, and be as happy and content as Jinki looked.

Sunyoung reached out for Gwiboon's necklace, and Gwiboon let her play with it, smiling fondly as Sunyoung babbled baby talk at her.

“How are you holding up?” Jongdae asked, half watching her daughter even as she turned her attention to Chanyeol.

“Pretty good,” he told her honestly. “At first it was just...so much. And the morning sickness. But I feel good now.”

Jongdae nodded, understanding. 

“At least you don't have to worry about giving birth,” she teased.

Even though male omegas could get pregnant, their bodies weren't made for giving birth, so it was standard procedure for all males to have c-sections for both their safety and the safety of the baby.

“I have plenty to worry about, thank you,” he sniffed, and Jongdae laughed. 

“You’ll be fine,” she assured him, sincere even with her teasing. “And you’re gonna be a great parent.”

Chanyeol felt himself smiling. “Thank you.”

“Are you starting to get excited about it? I know it kind of takes a while to process. Somehow your brain doesn’t immediately link being pregnant with becoming a parent. I think it took me a few months to kind of grasp it,” Jongdae told him.

Looking over at Gwiboon with Sunyoung in her lap, Chanyeol felt his heart swell. “Yeah, I think I really am.”

 

\---

 

For the entirety of the drive back to their apartment, Chanyeol found himself daydreaming about what it would be like once the baby got there- how much they would love it, how they would hold it like it was the most precious thing they’d ever touched, how it might laugh at the silly faces Chanyeol would make, and how he knew Gwiboon would be dead set on having the baby’s first word be _mommy_ , or whatever she decided she wanted to be called. 

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t realize that Gwiboon was being uncharacteristically quiet. 

But when they entered their apartment, and Gwiboon ended up pacing around the living room, Chanyeol knew that something was wrong.

After making a pit stop in the bathroom, he put himself in Gwiboon’s path- reaching out to rest his hands on her shoulders. 

“Hey, what’s up?” he asked gently, careful not to further exacerbate Gwiboon’s mood.

Sometimes it took some cajoling to get Gwiboon to tell him what was bothering her, but right then, she immediately fell against him- sniffling into his neck.

“Shh, it’s okay,” he soothed, arms wrapping around Gwiboon’s smaller frame to comfort her, even though he didn’t yet know why she was upset. “Tell me what I can do to help.”

“What if I’m a horrible parent?” she cried, burying the words in Chanyeol’s shoulder. “What if our baby hates me? What if I never feel like a real parent and I’m totally useless?”

Chanyeol almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of Gwiboon’s worries, though he didn’t because that was not going to help Gwiboon feel better. But the idea of Gwiboon not being a good parent... it was insane. Chanyeol had never seen Gwiboon be anything but perfectly comfortable around babies and kids, not to mention how much kids loved her. And while kids tended to take a liking to Chanyeol as well since he was always being extra goofy to make them laugh, Gwiboon managed to be responsible and adult-like and _still_ have kids clamoring after her and wanting her attention. 

Not for a second had Chanyeol ever doubted Gwiboon’s ability to be a parent. That was one thing he’d never worried about since finding out he was pregnant. 

“I don’t think you’ve ever been useless since I’ve met you,” Chanyeol confessed, and Gwiboon harrumphed and hit him like he’d been kidding. “Seriously! Whenever I’m floundering and have no clue what to do, you always do. Even if you have no experience, like that time i was trying to put together that chest of drawers and got stuck, you still can just swoop in and figure everything out. I promise you that you are not going to be useless.”

Gwiboon relaxed against him, looking up at him gratefully with watery eyes, though Chanyeol could tell she wasn’t entirely convinced that putting together a furniture meant that she was going to be a good parent.

“Remember when your boss brought in her kids and you showed them around and told them about your job? You said they followed you around for the rest of the day even though that model, Taemin, kept trying to lure them over to hang out with him with candy,” Chanyeol reminded her.

Chuckling, Gwiboon’s brows unfurrowed.

“And remember when we were in the park and that little boy tripped and fell right in front of us?” he went on, fingers stroking soothingly up and down Gwiboon’s spine. “You got him to stop crying before his mom even caught up to comfort him. You’re gonna be a great parent. That’s one thing I will never worry about.”

“Geez,” Gwiboon griped, seeming torn between wanting to brush off Chanyeol’s sincere compliments and curl further into him gratefully.

She settled for butting her forehead against him before wrapping her arms securely around his middle and breathing against his neck, melting into him and bringing comfort to both of them.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Chanyeol reiterated, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Me on the other hand…”

“Oh, shut up,” she laughed, eyes bright when she pulled back to prod at him playfully. “Kids love you, and you know it.”

“We’re both gonna be great parents,” Chanyeol allowed, and Gwiboon smiled, agreeing and pulling Chanyeol down for a kiss.

There was certainly going to be a learning curve, Chanyeol was sure, but they’d figure it out. 

Gwiboon’s palm was warm against his stomach, protective of their baby before it was even born.

And in a few short months, they’d be able to truly show their baby how much it was loved.

 

\---

 

Chanyeol was just beginning to show when the doctor told them that he could tell the sex of the baby. 

He and Gwiboon had known that there was the possibility that Doctor Zhang would be able to tell them the sex that day, but there had been no guarantee. Chanyeol suspected that Gwiboon really wanted to know since she refused to even entertain the possibility that they’d be able to find out- like that might jinx it.

As soon as Doctor Zhang asked if they wanted to know, Chanyeol had looked to Gwiboon. He was okay with whatever she wanted, though he was pretty positive that she had made up her mind already. 

Her eyes were shining when they met his, almost pleading like he’d insist that they wait.

He nodded at her, and she turned to Doctor Zhang, _yes_ already on her lips.

“It’s a girl.”

It was almost as surreal as initially finding out that he was pregnant. Maybe even more so, in a way.

Gwiboon’s happy laughter seemed like it was echoing around him as he replayed what the doctor had said. It was a _girl_.

He’d have been happy either way. It wasn’t that he was overjoyed that it was a girl, rather than a boy. It was just...their baby was no longer an idea- a theoretical that felt so lofty and untouchable. Their baby was a _girl_. She was _real_. _She_ was _real_.

He didn’t register that he was crying until he realized that Gwiboon’s smile was getting blurrier and blurrier, tears finally spilling over and coursing down his cheeks.

“We’re gonna have a daughter,” he breathed, Gwiboon’s arms around him, and Doctor Zhang’s congratulations somehow making their way through his muddled brain.

A girl. A daughter. They were having a baby girl. 

Chanyeol clutched Gwiboon close.

“A _daughter_.”

 

\---

 

“You _definitely_ need this,” Baekhyun proclaimed, putting a gigantic stuffed dog in their shopping cart. 

“No, we do not,” Gwiboon replied, taking the dog out and putting it back on the shelf.

Chanyeol didn’t want to admit it, but he was a little sad to see it go.

Somehow, Jonghyun and Baekhyun had invited themselves to come baby shopping, and so far, they hadn’t gotten much accomplished aside from Chanyeol and Baekhyun “testing” out some of the cooler looking toys. Gwiboon was losing her patience.

Meanwhile, Jonghyun was-

“Aren’t these precious?” Jonghyun cooed, holding up a pair of pink baby shoes with crocheted flowers on the toe and looking like he was on the verge of tearing up. “Can you imagine your baby in these?”

“I _told_ you,” Gwiboon said, abandoning the cart to walk Jonghyun back to the place he’d gotten the shoes. “We aren’t buying anything gender specific. If our daughter gets older and wants a bunch of pink stuff, then I promise you can buy it for her. But for now, we’re just gonna get gender neutral things until she develops a taste of her own.

Chanyeol suspected that Jonghyun would have wanted to buy the pink baby shoes even if they were having a boy, but decided to stay out of it. Gwiboon was in charge here, and for good reason. If she hadn’t been there to say no, he would have agreed with Baekhyun that they should buy a pair of super soakers even though it would be years until the baby would be able to use them. It wasn’t like _no one_ would have used them in the meantime, but the purchase probably wasn’t a necessary one, as Gwiboon pointed out. 

“See?” Gwiboon was saying, returning with Jonghyun and a pair of yellow slippers with bumble bee appliques. “These are just as cute.”

“Not quite,” Jonghyun pouted, and Gwiboon rolled her eyes, tossing the tiny shoes into the cart. 

“Okay, so we still need…” Gwiboon looked at her list, “basically everything.” She sighed.

“I picked out the garbage can for the nursery!” Baekhyun loudly reminded her.

“Yes, you did,” she acquiesced, and Baekhyun grinned, pleased with himself. 

“I wanna pick something out!” Jonghyun whined.

“Nothing pink!” Gwiboon warned.

“But isn’t getting nothing pink still going by gender?” Jonghyun argued. “Why can’t we get pink stuff and blue stuff and green stuff and purple stuff and orange stuff and-”

“You actually have a point,” Gwiboon admitted, and Jonghyun whooped like he’d won an olympic gold medal.

Though, winning an argument with Gwiboon was just as impressive. 

“So, what can I pick out?” Jonghyun asked, eagerly looking over Gwiboon’s shoulder at the shopping list she had on her phone. “The crib?”

“Hey, no fair!” Baekyhun protested. “I only got to choose the garbage can, and Jonghyun gets to pick out the crib?”

“Jonghyun is _not_ picking out the crib,” Gwiboon clarified. 

“Aw, how come?” Jonghyun complained.

“How about we go look at pillows and blankets?” Chanyeol suggested, pointing at the aisle that boasted bedding on the sign hanging from the ceiling.

Gwiboon shot Chanyeol as appreciative look.

Jonghyun and Baekhyun both took off, clamoring to get there first to choose the best stuff that Gwiboon might not veto.

Chanyeol hung back, resting his hand on the back of Gwiboon’s slender neck and trying to rub out some of the tension.

“Why are they here, again?” Gwiboon asked, laughing helplessly.

“I think Jonghyun just decided he was coming and Baekhyun tagged along,” Chanyeol told her honestly, and Gwiboon groaned. 

“Maybe this is like practice for having kids?” she suggested.

“I think shopping with them is going to make shopping with a baby seem easy,” Chanyeol joked. “This is like intensive boot camp.”

Gwiboon snickered. 

“Plus, we don’t have to get everything today,” he reminded her. “We can come back, just the two of us.”

“Thank god!” she exulted, and Chanyeol grinned as he leaned down to give her a peck on the lips.

“How about this blanket?” Jonghyun asked, bounding back over to them with the pinkest, ruffliest blanket that Chanyeol had ever seen.

“No, wait. This one is way better!” Baekhyun interjected, waving around a blanket with race cars on it. 

“Let’s let Chanyeol pick something out,” Gwiboon suggested, and the twin groans she got in response had Chanyeol laughing all the way to the blanket aisle.

 

\---

 

“I bought something today,” Gwiboon sang as she entered their apartment after a day of work.

Chanyeol was prepared to offer some commentary on a new pair of shoes or a shirt or something, but the lascivious grin Gwiboon gave him when she plopped down on the couch next to him with a non-descript shopping bag in her lap made him think that maybe that wasn’t the case.

His first thought was lingerie, or maybe some sexy thigh highs, but those musings were knocked right out of his head when what Gwiboon pulled out of the bag was a long, cardboard box.

The picture on the side had Chanyeol’s breath catching in his throat as Gwiboon eagerly but carefully removed the object from the packaging.

In the afterglow of a very satisfying 69-ing session before Chanyeol’s belly had started to grow, he’d confessed to Gwiboon how much he’d enjoyed the feel of her release going into him on the fateful day he’d gotten pregnant, even though it had been only a drop or two.

With Gwiboon’s cum still pooled in his clavicles, it had been a relevant observation. And Gwiboon’s interest in coming inside him while he was pregnant, because he couldn’t get double pregnant, had Chanyeol shivering at the possibility. But it hadn’t come up since, so Chanyeol had assumed that Gwiboon had forgotten. 

However, the hollow strap-on and specially designed harness that Gwiboon was holding suggested otherwise. 

Since many female alpha and male omega pairs had trouble getting pregnant, devices had been created to ensure that the most amount of ejaculate made it inside of the omega’s anus. 

Clearly, they were in no need of such an item, as was evidenced by the protrusion of Chanyeol’s belly that seemed to grow with every passing day.

But that didn’t mean that Chanyeol couldn’t feel himself hardening at just the thought of Gwiboon fucking him with that.

“Interested?” she teased, dangling the harness in front of him.

At a loss for words, Chanyeol nodded, swallowing noisily.

Gwiboon grinned wickedly, eyes dark on his as she gracefully got up from the couch and made her way into their bedroom. 

Chanyeol was quick to follow. 

Prep was the same as if they were using any other toy, Gwiboon's fingers sliding slick into him until he was pushing back on three of them and whimpering low in his throat every time she brushed his prostate. But Chanyeol still couldn't get the fact that Gwiboon was going to come inside him out of his head.

“Ready?” she breathed, voice trembling like she was just as wrecked by the idea as he was, and he nodded.

Watching as Gwiboon slid the harness up her hips, shuddering when it rubbed against her clit, Chanyeol tried to keep from holding his breath in anticipation.

Sliding into him, it was just like any other dildo, though it was made of a hard plastic, unlike his favorite that had a bit more give. But he didn’t mind the unforgiving material, especially knowing that it would be the way in which Gwiboon was going to come inside of him.

The toy was designed so that when the female alpha wearing the toy came, her cum would be funneled through the hollow strap on and come out the small opening at the tip, which would be buried inside her partner- male or female. 

The fact that this wasn’t going to get him pregnant didn’t diminish Chanyeol’s anticipation, body clenching tight around the toy with every thrust that Gwiboon made as though he could milk her orgasm out of her like the toy was an actual extension of her body. But it was obvious that Gwiboon was getting pleasure from the act anyway, her hips moving faster and her brows pinching with the way she was grinding her clit against the toy. 

Chanyeol moaned when Gwiboon shifted slightly to hit his prostate, hands braced on his shoulders and hair starting to come free from the clip holding it up to fall around her face and cling to her sweaty temples.

“You want to feel me come inside you?” Gwiboon puffed, undulating her body just right so the toy dragged against Chanyeol’s inner walls just so.

“ _Yes_ ,” he gasped, one hand reaching up to cover one of Gwiboon’s shaking breasts- just wanting to feel the way it moved against his palm as Gwiboon drove her hips forward.

“I’m gonna fill you up,” Gwiboon promised, eyes so dark on his. “Gonna come for you and mark you as mine, mine, _mine_.” Her thrusts punctuated her words, and Chanyeol whimpered- Gwiboon’s possession sending crackles of arousal over his skin. 

Desperately, Chanyeol wrapped a hand around his aching length, needing to chase his release that was tickling at his senses and taunting him with the pleasure it would bring.

“Uh-uh,” Gwiboon chided. “You’re gonna come from me. Just me. Wanna come inside you and make you spill all over your stomach from how it feels.”

Chanyeol’s cock twitched against his belly and his body clamped down on the toy driving into him. Just a little bit more. He was so, so close. He just needed a little bit-

Gwiboon cried out as she found her peak, rubbing herself against the toy as she shook over him and came- the rush of warm liquid flowing into him so suddenly and filling him so fast as Gwiboon’s hips kept pumping and she kept coming as her release began to trickle out of his body and over his skin.

Chanyeol barely got out a whine as his own orgasm crashed into him, the feeling of Gwiboon coming for him, _in_ him, spurring on his own pleasure as his body tightened and he came between them- eyes squeezed shut and tears catching in his lashes at the intensity of the pleasure. 

Whimpering, Chanyeol opened his eyes as Gwiboon carefully pulled the toy out of him- her release spilling out and soaking into the sheets.

Gwiboon grimaced even as Chanyeol shivered- sparks of leftover sensitivity shooting through his spent body.

“Up,” Gwiboon requested. “Gotta take these sheets off before the mattress gets ruined.”

Chanyeol grumbled, but did as he was told- rolling off the bed and feeling the rest of Gwiboon’s cum that wasn’t wetting the sheets dripping down his legs. 

With the bedding in a crumpled heap on the floor and Gwiboon carefully and gently mopping up the mess on Chanyeol’s skin from both of their orgasms, Chanyeol hummed in contentment.

“Did you like that?” Gwiboon teased, voice rough even as her eyes laughed at how strung out he looked. 

“Oh my god,” Chanyeol breathed, bracing himself on Gwiboon’s shoulders as Gwiboon spent a little extra time cleaning up his stomach- running her palms over the noticeable bump reverently. 

Gwiboon chuckled. “I really liked claiming you like that,” she confessed, tossing the dirty tissues in the waste basket and returning to press against Chanyeol’s front so they were skin to skin. “I mean, I know I already claimed you years ago,” she said, fingertips sliding over the faint, but permanent mark on his neck from her teeth, “but…”

“I know,” he agreed, voice like gravel from moaning as he ran a palm down Gwiboon’s back and felt her shiver. 

“We should do that a few more times while we can without worrying about you getting pregnant,” Gwiboon said, and Chanyeol nodded, nuzzling into the top of Gwiboon’s head. “And maybe someday when that’s our aim.”

Chanyeol’s chest warmed even as he chuckled. “One thing at a time.” 

 

\---

 

The bigger Chanyeol got, the more Gwiboon doted on him. By five months, there was no hiding that he was pregnant. Not even a giant t-shirt was going to disguise the baby bump. But that was okay. Everyone important in his life knew that he was pregnant, anyway. And he liked the way Gwiboon puffed up when they were walking down the street together, so proud to have been the one to put a baby in his belly. 

Perhaps the constant reminder that she was the one responsible was also why she seemed determined to wait on Chanyeol hand and foot even though he was far from too big to function normally. 

“Do you want more tea?” Gwiboon asked, noting that Chanyeol’s cup was empty on the coffee table. 

“I can get it,” Chanyeol told her, bracing a hand on the armrest of the couch to push himself up.

“No!” Gwiboon protested, making Chanyeol slump back down with a sigh. “Let me.”

“At least wait until the commercial break,” he reasoned, putting a hand on Gwiboon’s thigh to stop her from leaping up. 

“Are you sure?” Gwiboon asked. “I don’t mind.”

“I’m not going to expire in the next five minutes without tea.”

Gwiboon acquiesced, letting Chanyeol pull her back against his side.

They both turned their attention back to the drama on TV, content to relax together since neither of them had work the next day. 

But then-

Chanyeol jerked, tense and frozen in place as he stared down at his abdomen with wide eyes. 

“What? What is it?” Gwiboon demanded, attention one hundred percent on Chanyeol immediately. “Do you need tea?”

Chanyeol almost wanted to laugh, but…

“She…” he paused to gape at his belly again. “I think she kicked?”

“ _What_?” Gwiboon nearly screeched, both hands against Chanyeol’s stomach and entire focus on where she was touching. 

They both sat in silence, entirely still, like that was going to make it happen again.

“No fair,” Gwiboon groused after a few minutes. “I wanna feel.”

And then, as if their baby had heard her whining, Chanyeol felt the same little nudge inside him.

Gwiboon squealed.

“She’s _kicking_ ,” Gwiboon marveled, palms moving over Chanyeol’s stomach in wonder. 

Chanyeol knew his eyes were wide in amazement as he nodded, able to feel the movement in his belly from the inside, and also where he had a hand resting against his stomach.

Gwiboon laughed- disbelief, happiness, awe all wrapped together.

“She's feisty!” Gwiboon announced after another moment of feeling their daughter kicking against Chanyeol's belly.

“Well, she's _your_ daughter,” Chanyeol pointed out, not minding the shove against his shoulder even as Gwiboon's eyes creased happily in laughter.

“She's yours too,” she countered. “Maybe she's flailing.”

Chanyeol guffawed loudly, so happy he could almost taste it.

“Flailing with sass,” he amended, and Gwiboon beamed.

“That sounds right,” she giggled, leaning into Chanyeol's side while keeping her hands pressed to his stomach so she didn't miss any movement. “She's perfect.”

Chanyeol couldn't agree more.

 

\---

 

“How about Minah?” Chanyeol suggested, looking down at his pad of paper- a list of names written messily covering most of the page.

“Too common,” Gwiboon dismissed. “What about Lucinda?”

Chanyeol wrinkled his nose. “Not common enough.”

“Junghee?” Chanyeol suggested.

“Ugh, no,” Gwiboon immediately grimaced.

“What's wrong with Junghee?” Chanyeol wanted to know.

“That's the name Jonghyun used when he'd dress in drag in high school,” Gwiboon told him, pulling her feet underneath herself on the couch. “He worked it, but that's not what I want to associate our child with.”

That wasn't something Chanyeol could argue with.

Taking a swallow of tea, Chanyeol crossed Junghee off his list.

“Okay, this one is one of my favorites,” Gwiboon said. “Key.”

Chanyeol frowned in confusion. “Is that even a name?”

Gwiboon shrugged. “Anything can be a name.”

“That doesn't mean it _should_ be a name.”

Gwiboon made a face at him. “What's next on your list?”

They'd been at this for for an hour already, and they hadn't accomplished much besides vetoing a bunch of each other's suggestions. Chanyeol was beginning to wonder if they'd be able to agree on a name at all.

“Yerim?” Chanyeol said hopefully, but Gwiboon's unimpressed face had him crossing the name off the list before she even said anything.

“What about Wendy?” Gwiboon suggested.

“Like the fast food restaurant?”

Gwiboon opened her mouth to argue and then snapped it shut again, putting pen to paper to draw a slash through the name.

“Seulgi,” Chanyeol read off his list, pen poised and ready for rejection.

Gwiboon paused, head tilting to the side.

“Seulgi,” she repeated, thoughtful.

Leaning forward slightly, Chanyeol was afraid to breathe. This was the first time all day that they didn't seem to be in staunch disagreement.

“You know,” Gwiboon said after another minute of quiet, “I don't hate it. I actually...like it. I really like it. It feels good.”

Chanyeol beamed.

“Doesn't it?” Gwiboon prompted, as though Chanyeol hadn't been the one to suggest it in the first place.

“It does,” he quickly agreed, nodding enthusiastically.

“Seulgi,” Gwiboon said, placing a hand on the side of Chanyeol's growing belly.

Their baby shifted, and Gwiboon laughed- eyes finding Chanyeol's.

“She likes it,” Gwiboon announced. “Was that the deciding vote?”

“I think so,” Chanyeol agreed. “It's only right she get the final say.”

Gwiboon laughed, leaning over to kiss him with her hand still pressed against his belly- against their baby. Seulgi. Their daughter. 

 

\---

The Third Trimester

\---

 

“Surprise!” Baekhyun hollered, up in Chanyeol’s face when he stepped into his apartment after getting lunch with Gwiboon at their favorite cafe. 

“Wha-”

An hour and a half ago, his and Gwiboon’s apartment had looked, well, normal. _Now_ , there were pastel yellow, pink, and blue (emphasis on the pink, probably thanks to Jonghyun) streamers hanging from the ceiling, balloons shaped like baby bottles and teddy bears and pacifiers tied in clusters, and a stack of presents against the wall that seemed to be threatening to take over the entire living room, not to mention a large selection of their friends, all grinning at him and waiting for a reaction.

Baekhyun and Jonghyun were there of course, Joonmyun and Minjung, Sehun and her alpha, Kyungsoo, Jinki, Jongdae with Sunyoung on her hip, as well as an assortment of other friends and acquaintances they had from college as well as some people Gwiboon knew from work, including the two male models who’d famously set off each other’s heats. 

Everyone was smiling happily, eyes on Chanyeol as Baekhyun put a party hat on his head, and Chanyeol promptly burst into tears.

Now, he’d always been a pretty sensitive guy- easily touched by sad movies and not afraid to show emotion. But recently, with his hormones going haywire and a tiny person wiggling around and kicking his bladder when he was trying to sleep so he wasn’t getting nearly enough, it was like all of his emotions had been increased tenfold. 

Baekhyun froze, the elastic snapping against Chanyeol’s chin as Baekhyun looked at him with wide, panicked eyes. 

Chanyeol wanted to tell him that he wasn’t crying be cause he was _upset_ , but he was too busy sobbing to do so.

Fortunately, Gwiboon was right there to swoop in and steer Chanyeol toward the bedroom while assuring Baekhyun that, _no_ , he hadn’t broken Chanyeol.

“Is it too much?” Gwiboon fussed when the door was closed behind them. “If it’s too overwhelming or you’re too tired, we can have everyone go. They’ll all understand, I promise. I didn’t know if we should have it be a surprise, but Jonghyun and Baekhyun really wanted to plan the whole thing.”

“I’m not-” Chanyeol took a gulping breath of air, “upset.”

“No, I know, baby,” Gwiboon cooed, rubbing Chanyeol’s back soothingly as he slumped into her as much as he could without knocking her over with all the extra weight he’d put on. “It’s just a lot and you’re...well, pregnant.”

Chanyeol nodded helplessly, glad that he didn’t have to explain. 

Letting him cry it out, Gwiboon made hushing sounds as she petted his hair- reaching up to wipe away his tears when the sobbing had died down to a quiet sniffling.

“What do you think?” she asked, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. “Totally up to you. You say the word and I kick everybody out so we can lounge on the couch in sweats all afternoon.”

Chanyeol chuckled, wrapping his arms around his mate gratefully. 

“No, I’m ready,” he told her. “I’m excited. I just. I’m good now.”

Gwiboon beamed. “You sure?”

Chanyeol nodded, letting Gwiboon kiss him again before she pulled away to go tell their guests that Chanyeol was fine and that he didn’t have any traumatic experiences with party hats that had been unexpectedly brought up when Baekhyun had put one on his head. It gave Chanyeol a few more minutes to compose himself, and hopefully keep everyone from incessantly asking if he was okay.

He knew the concern was well-meaning, but it was hard to explain that he was just a mess of emotions and hormones and that a slight breeze was likely to set him off these days to people who didn’t understand. Though at least Jongdae was probably out there regaling the guests with what a mess she’d been when pregnant to diffuse the awkward atmosphere. Chanyeol smiled to think of it, and almost teared up again. Though he managed to get ahold of himself so he could attend his own baby shower.

Gwiboon was at his side when he emerged from the bedroom, hand grasping tight to his. The wordless support had his heart squeezing as he greeted his guests in a more socially acceptable way than sobbing uncontrollably.

“Doing okay, there?” Baekhyun asked when Chanyeol stopped mingling to admire the cake. There were teeny rosettes gathered in the corners and _It's a Girl_ piped in fancy script in the center. Chanyeol wondered if ordering the cake had been Jonghyun’s job since he seemed more excited they were expecting a girl than anybody.

“Yeah, sorry about before,” Chanyeol said sheepishly, nibbling on a cracker from the platter of snacks. Aside from being moody, he was also so _hungry_ all the time.

“It's cool,” Baekhyun assured him, though he still seemed wary, like Chanyeol might burst into tears at any second. “You're all…” he gestured at Chanyeol's person as though to convey the havoc that was happening inside him. Chanyeol knew what he meant.

“Thanks,” Chanyeol said, grabbing Baekhyun in a one armed hug that had Baekhyun squirming and teasing him for being a softie, but Chanyeol knew that it was all for show. Baekhyun gave him a real hug before going to join Jonghyun where he was cooing over Sunyoung. 

Idly, Chanyeol wondered how much longer it would be before the two were expecting their own baby. Baekhyun pregnant would undoubtedly be some mix of horrifying and wildly entertaining. Chanyeol was looking forward to it.

It was a good thing they had a baby shower, Chanyeol thought, because there were so many things they’d needed that they hadn’t had. Sure, they’d done _some_ baby shopping, but they hadn’t gotten any of the big stuff yet. But now they had a crib, a changing table, a high chair, a vast array of toys, and more adorable onesies than Chanyeol had ever seen.

By the end of the shower, Chanyeol was just about ready to cry again, whether from gratitude or from exhaustion, he wasn’t quite sure. 

Gwiboon might have grimaced at the mismatched pillows and blankets Jonghyun and Baekhyun had included with their very generous gift of the crib, but she and Chanyeol both could rest easy knowing that they were much more prepared for Seulgi’s debut in the world than they had been before. 

 

\---

 

“Make sure you tape off all the crown molding!” Gwiboon instructed, watching as Jonghyun and Baekhyun readied the nursery for paint. Now that they had almost all they needed for the baby, Gwiboon deemed it time to convert their second bedroom into a nursery. 

Chanyeol had pictured the two of them doing it all themselves, but apparently Gwiboon had other plans. She was absolutely refusing to let Chanyeol lift a finger, and was instead bossing Jonghyun and Baekhyun around.

To be fair, they _had_ offered to help, despite all the whining Baekhyun was currently doing even though they’d barely started. 

“I still think you should have chosen pink,” Jonghyun groused as he covered his paint roller in pastel yellow paint. “It would have looked so pretty with the netted canopy I got you!”

“If you want a pink nursery, then have your own baby,” she told him, observing him closely as he began to apply paint to the wall.

Baekhyun’s brows jumped at that, and Chanyeol couldn’t help but laugh from where he was watching from the door. 

“Get out of here!” Gwiboon scolded when she heard him, abandoning her place next to Baekhyun as she nearly breathed down his neck to try to shoo Chanyeol out of the room. “I don’t want you inhaling all the paint fumes.”

“But I’m just out here doing nothing,” Chanyeol complained, even as he allowed Gwiboon to corral him back into the living room.

“That’s the idea,” she said, helping him sit back down on the couch. “You and Seulgi need to rest out here and let those two do all the heavy lifting, okay?”

Chanyeol kind of wanted to protest because he hated feeling useless, but the way Gwiboon referred to him _and_ Seulgi, like Chanyeol was really out here with their baby instead of just planted in front of the TV by himself, had him smiling. 

“Okay, okay,” he relented, happily returning the kiss Gwiboon pressed to his lips. “Don’t let Jonghyun paint a mural on the wall.”

Gwiboon laughed. “I won’t.”

“ _Fuck_ ,” sounded from the other room in Baekhyun’s voice. 

Gwiboon’s eyes widened in panic as she straightened up and hastened to the nursery.

“What’s going on in there?”

“We’re fine!” came Jonghyun’s voice, too high to be believable.

“What- _Baekhyun_! That’s a waste of an entire can of paint!”

“At least there’s plastic covering the floor!” he defended, loud enough that Chanyeol could hear. 

He might have been relegated to the couch, but at least he was confident Gwiboon would be able to keep things on track. 

“ _Don’t step in it_!” Gwiboon screeched

Relatively on track, anyway.

 

\---

 

Helping to paint the nursery wasn’t all Chanyeol couldn’t do.

Even without Gwiboon forbidding him from doing anything too physical, Chanyeol was finding himself having trouble doing plenty of things he used to take for granted.

Doing laundry proved difficult since he couldn’t carry the basket in front of himself with his stomach in the way. Washing his legs in the shower had turned into squirting body wash in that general direction and trying to rub his legs against each other in hopes that that would do the trick. Even standing up and sitting down was a struggle, though he could manage with a lot of grunting. 

Chanyeol hated not being able to do everything as easily and quickly as he was used to, but Gwiboon, for as much as she liked to be pampered on occasion, seemed to take satisfaction in doing as much for Chanyeol as she possibly could. Chanyeol suspected that Gwiboon would have gone to the bathroom _for_ him if it was physically possible. 

He was touched by her care and concern, his heart swelling every time she brought him tea or rubbed his shoulders, which led to a lot of tearful _thank you’s_ and Gwiboon cooing at him even as she affectionately chuckled at his overly emotional tendencies. 

Unfortunately, the mood swings went both ways, so even if he was feeling grateful, he ended up snapping at Gwiboon half the time, which usually led to tearful _I’m sorry’s_. Of the two of them, Gwiboon was the one with the shorter fuse, so Chanyeol being the one with no patience was jarring to them both. But Gwiboon was being so understanding and patient with him that Chanyeol sometimes just started crying out of nowhere. 

Occasionally even at work, though he managed to gather himself by the time he was expected to announce the next song.

Basically, he felt like a mess, yet Gwiboon was pampering him and fussing over him like he was the most precious thing on earth. He said as much through tears one evening after he’d snapped at her for asking about when he planned to go on maternity leave. 

“You’re almost right,” she’d told him, curled up next to him on the couch and rubbing his back as he sobbed into her shoulder. “You’re the second most precious thing on earth. The most precious is in your belly.”

Had Gwiboon been putting him in second place to anyone besides their unborn daughter, he’d have protested (in a joking way...mostly), but he couldn’t argue since he felt the same. Seulgi already meant the world to him and she hadn’t even taken her first breath. 

It was hard to believe that in just about a month, it wouldn’t just be the two of them anymore. Because while Seulgi might have been loved and treasured already, she was still part of Chanyeol. She wasn’t a third being in the room. Not really. But soon...soon she was going to be there needing to be fed and changed and coddled and played with. Soon, evenings weren’t going to be him and Gwiboon snuggled on the couch while they binge-watched a TV show. It was kind of a scary thought, but it was also exciting. And humbling. 

“Pretty soon, I’m going to be comforting Seulgi when she cries instead of you,” Gwiboon teased, nearly echoing Chanyeol’s thoughts. 

“That makes more sense,” Chanyeol chuckled, sniffling. 

Gwiboon kissed his wet cheeks, and let him tuck his head against her as they watched the end of the movie that was playing.

As much as Chanyeol was sick of the mood swings, he was going to miss being pregnant a little bit. 

Though being able to wash his own feet in the shower would be nice. 

 

\---

 

“I’m amazed you can even reach the microphone,” Sehun observed during a commercial break when she was bringing Chanyeol a new bottle of water and a bag of dried apricots because he was _starving_ and dried fruit had been all he’d been craving for the past week. 

“Are you calling me fat?” Chanyeol asked around a mouthful of apricot, trying to eat as much as he could before he had to go back on the air after the commercials. 

“No, your legs are still toothpicks,” Sehun informed him. “I’m calling you extremely pregnant.”

“I’m only eight months pregnant,” Chanyeol told her, still chewing. “I’m gonna get a lot bigger than this.

Sehun’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

Joonmyun rapped on the glass with her knuckles, holding out ten fingers to let them know that there were only ten seconds left in the break.

Chanyeol took a swig of water to wash everything down and shooed Sehun out of the room.

Honestly, he _had_ had to readjust his set up to be able to get as close to the microphone as he needed to with his belly keeping him from being able to scoot all the way up to the desk. But it was working out just fine.

Though he was always craving a nap by the time he finished. It wasn’t his fault that Seulgi liked to move around and wake him up in the middle of the night. 

Speaking of, Seulgi decided to ram a foot into his bladder as Chanyeol read through a couple of viewer comments, making him wince and brace himself against the sudden need to pee.

“Bathroom!” he mouthed as soon as he’d announced the next song, pushing himself out of his chair as quickly as he could and power waddling to the bathroom down the hall. 

This had become a common occurrence. Chanyeol made three more emergency bathroom trips during the remaining hour and a half of his show. 

He was wondering if he had to pee again when Joonmyun led him into her office after he'd bid adieu to his listeners.

“How are you doing?” Joonmyun asked when she'd settled behind her desk and Chanyeol was sitting across from her, hoping this wouldn't take too long because Seulgi seemed to have been leaning against his bladder.

“Good,” Chanyeol told her with a smile and a hand resting over his swollen belly. “Though full disclosure, I have to pee. I think.”

Joonmyun chuckled, casting him a fond look.

“We’ll make this quick then,” she said. “What do you think about taking your maternity leave?”

Chanyeol blinked. “Now?”

Joonmyun nodded.

He still had a month before he was due. With the understanding that he'd be off work for a few months after the birth, he'd assumed he wouldn't be going on leave until he was much closer to his due date.

“Why? I- I can still-”

“I know you can, Chanyeol,” Joonmyun assured him, a hand reaching across her desk to rest comfortingly against his wrist. “But wouldn't you rather be able to relax and prepare for the baby? And take as many bathroom breaks as you need?”

Chanyeol flushed, choking out a laugh. 

“You'll still get as much time after the baby is born as we talked about before, so don't worry about that.”

“I didn't even tell the listeners that I'll be gone for a while,” Chanyeol fretted. He had planned to announce his pregnancy before he took time off in order to explain his forthcoming absence. He didn't want to just disappear…

“You can work tomorrow and start your leave on Monday?” Joonmyun suggested. 

Chanyeol felt like a goldfish- mouth opening and closing again when he realized he didn't know what to say. Did he want to start his maternity leave so soon? Was Joonmyun trying to get rid of him? Had his work been suffering due to his pregnancy?

“It's completely up to you,” Joonmyun added at Chanyeol's hesitation. “You can stay until you start going into labor live on air. But I just wanted to give you the option. I don't want you straining yourself.”

Chanyeol chuckled at the idea of trying to time the commercial breaks to match up with his contractions.

“Can I think about it?” he asked, wondering what Gwiboon would think, though he had a pretty good idea.

“Of course,” Joonmyun said with a reassuring smile. 

And then Chanyeol had to excuse himself when Seulgi decided to kick him in the bladder.

 

\---

 

“How much dried fruit do you have?” Baekhyun marvelled, peering into the kitchen cabinets.

“A lot?” Chanyeol ventured to guess. He hadn’t been able to get enough lately. Dried apples, especially, had been a constant craving for the past few weeks.

“More important question,” Baekyhun said, turning to him. “Do you have other food that is not of the dried or fruit variety?” 

“Yeah? I can make something,” Chanyeol told him, making to get up.

“No!” Baekhyun shrieked, leaping forward and holding Chanyeol down by his shoulders. Chanyeol rolled his eyes. “Gwiboon entrusted me with you! And she specifically said that you should be resting. Rest!”

Chanyeol sighed. 

Gwiboon had had to go out of town for a two-day shoot, thereby leaving Chanyeol home alone for the whole weekend. Despite his insistence that he’d be fine- his due date wasn’t for another three weeks- Gwiboon would not hear of Chanyeol staying in their apartment by himself. So, she’d called in reinforcements, meaning that she’d called Baekhyun and had put in on Chanyeol babysitting duty. 

Because Gwiboon could be scary when she wanted to be, Baekhyun was taking the job a little too seriously. 

“Do not get up,” Baekhyun reiterated, hands held out in front of him like Chanyeol was capable of making sudden movements. “We can just order take out.”

Baekhyun grabbed for his cell phone, and Chanyeol heaved himself up from the kitchen chair.

“Why are you up?” Baekhyun demanded, fluttering around him like a small bug as Chanyeol made his way out of the kitchen.

“I have to pee,” Chanyeol informed him, and Baekhyun finally stopped trying to corral him back toward a chair. “Get used to it, because this is going to happen a lot. When you have a baby pressing into your bladder, you have to get up to go to the bathroom a lot.”

It was a good thing that Chanyeol had decided to take Joonmyun up on her offer to let him go on maternity leave early because it had only gotten worse and he feared he’d have ended up having to get up in the middle of a call on air to hurry to the bathroom.

Unsurprisingly, Gwiboon had insisted he take the early leave when he’d brought it up to her, so he’d gone to work one last day, and explained to his listeners that he’d be gone for a while because he was due to give birth soon. The congratulations that had flooded the show’s twitter page had made Chanyeol tear up a bit, and Sehun had laughed at him for being a sap. 

A week of not working, and Chanyeol was starting to feel a little stir crazy. But he knew he should revel in the feeling of being bored, because he knew that after the baby came, he and Gwiboon would be so busy that boredom would be a long forgotten memory.

“I ordered pizza,” Baekhyun announced when Chanyeol returned from the bathroom, making sure Chanyeol sat down on the couch immediately. 

“You know, doctors actually recommend that pregnant people go on walks,” he informed Baekhyun, sitting down anyway. “It can help move along the process.”

“We do not want the process to be moved along at all this weekend!” Baekyhun announced, flopping down next to Chanyeol. “You can’t have the baby this weekend. I am not equipped for such things, and Gwiboon would kill me.” 

“My due date is weeks away,” Chanyeol reminded him, noting the genuine apprehension in Baekhyun’s eyes. “I’m not going to have the baby in the next two days.”

“Still,” Baekhyun said. “Better safe than sorry.” He eyed Chanyeol’s round belly warily. 

“Seulgi is going to stay in here for now,” Chanyeol assured him, patting his tummy fondly.

Baekhyun looked...mostly convinced. 

 

\---

 

“Are you going into labor?” Baekhyun garbled out, half asleep and panicked. 

It was after three in the morning, and Chanyeol had just been getting up to, _surprise_ , use the bathroom. 

Something like that wouldn’t have woken Baekhyun up except for the fact that Baekhyun had _insisted_ on sleeping in Chanyeol’s and Gwiboon’s king size bed with him. In case of a middle of the night emergency. 

So far, Chanyeol had only been kicked in the shin once, so it could have been worse. 

“No, I’m going to the bathroom,” Chanyeol mumbled, voice gravelly from sleep.

“Are you sure?” Baekhyun asked, sitting up in bed to squint at Chanyeol in the dark.

“I’m sure,” Chanyeol said, shuffling away and hearing Baekhyun flop back against the mattress. 

Chanyeol climbed back into bed with a grunt after he’d seen to his needs, trying to get in a decently comfortable position with his belly protruding as much as it was. 

“No baby?” Baekhyun asked sleepily, shifting under the covers and making the mattress move under them.

“Nope,” Chanyeol confirmed, moving again and making the whole bed shake.

“Wake me up if you start having contractions,” Baekhyun said around a yawn, and Chanyeol snorted, tossing the comforter off when he found he was too warm.

“Will do,” Chanyeol answered, but he could already hear Baekhyun’s breathing evening out before his best friend started whimpering and yipping in his sleep like a puppy. 

With Seulgi squirming around and rolling side to side, Chanyeol hoped that he would be able to find sleep that easily, too.

 

\---

 

Much to Baekhyun’s (and Gwiboon’s) relief, Seulgi stayed put while Gwiboon was away. 

Chanyeol was relieved that he no longer had someone around him at all times who nearly went into cardiac arrest every time he moved. Not that Gwiboon was a whole lot better, but she at least seemed to understand that Chanyeol was not constantly on the cusp of going into labor. 

When Baekhyun headed back to his and Jonghyun’s apartment, he looked like he could use a very long nap.

The following week went by as normal- Chanyeol staying at home while Gwiboon went to work, trying to find little jobs around the house to occupy himself that wouldn’t make Gwiboon scold him for exerting too much energy. 

But what was supposed to be a relaxing Saturday lunch out was interrupted by a pain in Chanyeol’s abdomen that was definitely not indigestion. 

“What? What’s happening?” Baekhyun demanded when Chanyeol stopped mid-sentence and put a hand on his stomach.

“Chill, you’re not responsible for me anymore,” Chanyeol said distractedly, trying to discern what was happening in his body. He was still two weeks away from his due date. Surely...

“Chanyeol? Baby? What’s wrong?” Gwiboon asked, out of her seat and at his side.

“Don’t know,” he admitted, sandwich long forgotten as his muscles seized uncomfortably. 

“Tell me what you’re feeling,” Gwiboon urged. “Do we need to go to the hospital?”

Chanyeol didn’t know. 

“It’s not,” he started, trying to put it into words. “It doesn’t hurt.”

“That’s good,” Gwiboon said, a hand rubbing soothingly against his shoulder. 

“Just tightening,” Chanyeol explained, muscles currently not contracting, but body on alert for the slightest discomfort. “Probably braxton hicks?”

Gwiboon nodded, grabbing her chair and pulling it over so that she could stay right next to him without having to awkwardly crouch. 

“Let’s wait and see if you get another,” she suggested, “and we can see if it’s random or at regular intervals, okay?”

“What will that mean?” Baekhyun asked, still looking uneasy and like he thought Chanyeol liable to detonate at any moment. 

“If they’re irregular, then it’s probably braxton hicks, and not real labor,” Gwiboon explained.

“Can we do anything?” Jonghyun tried, eyebrows sloped in concern. 

Chanyeol shook his head at the same time Gwiboon told him _no, but thanks_. 

The concern of their friends was nice, but Chanyeol didn’t want to make this a big deal if it didn’t have to be. He knew they’d already garnered a little attention in the bustling restaurant when Gwiboon had first rushed to his side. He didn’t need everyone in the whole place thinking that he needed an ambulance. Besides, there really wasn’t anything anyone else could do for him. He just had to count on his body to figure itself out.

“Here,” Gwiboon offered, handing Chanyeol his mostly full glass of water. “Dehydration can cause braxton hicks contractions, so drink this and maybe it’ll help.”

Obligingly, Chanyeol took the proffered glass, condensation running over his hand, and finished off the contents. 

They spent another few minutes like that, Gwiboon’s thumb stroking against the back of his hand and all of them nearly holding their breath like Chanyeol might explode. 

“Another one,” Chanyeol announced, muscles clenching. 

“Feel any different from the last one?” Gwiboon asked.

“Maybe a little shorter?”

“That’s a good sign that this isn’t real labor,” Gwiboon acknowledged. “Let’s get up and go for a little walk. The books say you should change position, and that can make them stop.”

Part of Chanyeol wanted to turn to Baekhyun to go, _Look! See? Walking! Movement!_ But instead he just let Gwiboon help him up from his chair, still feeling a bit shaken by the whole thing.

“We’ll get the bill,” Jonghyun assured them as Gwiboon grabbed her purse and put a steadying hand on Chanyeol’s arm. 

“Thank you,” Chanyeol said, feeling bad that he’d interrupted their meal with fake contractions. 

He was also disappointed that he hadn’t been able to finish his lunch, though he wasn’t feeling particularly hungry at the moment. 

“It’s no problem,” Baekhyun told him, shooting him a grin. “I’ll finish your fries and everything.”

Chanyeol huffed out a laugh. “Gee, thanks.”

With Gwiboon at his side, they exited the restaurant- fresh air a relief after all that. 

“Sorry,” Chanyeol murmured, feeling Gwiboon’s grip on his hand tighten.

“What on earth are you apologizing for?” Gwiboon griped, shooting him a judgmental look. “Carrying our baby?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “Ruining lunch?”

Gwiboon’s facial expression didn’t change. “You’re ridiculous,” she muttered, even as she pulled Chanyeol closer, turning his head with her free hand and planting a kiss on his lips as they waited for the light to change to cross the street. “You are absolutely ridiculous.”

Warmth filled his chest, and a relieved tear escaped and slid down his cheek.

Gwiboon brushed it away with a _tsk_ and another kiss, her eyes soft when she pulled away.

After walking for thirty minutes and not feeling another contraction,Chanyeol was feeling confident that what he had felt at the restaurant had been braxton hicks contractions, and that they were done for the time being. 

But even though it hadn’t really been his body telling him that it was time for the baby to come out, it only served to remind him that that time was coming, and it was coming _soon_. 

It was only a matter of time before Seulgi would be demanding to make her debut into the world. Chanyeol just had to be ready.

 

\---

 

The next time Chanyeol felt anything strange was when he was picking up milk three days before his due date. Gwiboon was at work, and he hated to make her stop at the grocery store again. Plus, he had been feeling restless in the apartment all by himself.

He knew Gwiboon would have insisted on going for him if she was home, but the little grocery store was only a block away from their apartment. Chanyeol was perfectly capable.

Now though, as he paused on the sidewalk with a gallon of milk in his hand and his abdomen clenching, he wondered if he was.

The walk back to his apartment was short, so he didn't feel another contraction until the milk was in the fridge and he was heading for the couch.

It wasn't incredibly painful, but there was something more pointed about the feeling than when he'd been out to lunch. Sitting down on the couch, Chanyeol grabbed the pad of paper from the coffee table and jotted down the time. The next time a contraction came, he did it again.

After an hour of recording his contractions, Chanyeol was fairly certain that he wasn’t experiencing braxton hicks again. These contractions were coming at regular intervals and they seemed to be getting more intense as time progressed. He still wasn’t in extreme pain, but Chanyeol was pretty sure that he should be heading to the hospital soon. 

The only problem was that Gwiboon was still on a shoot and wasn’t due home for quite some time.

Chanyeol forced himself to breathe as he dialed her number and waited for her to pick up.

“Chanyeol?” she answered after four rings. “What’s wrong?”

Perhaps if he called her at work often, the call wouldn’t have been so conspicuous. But knowing Gwiboon and how close he was to his due date, she’d probably have been just as on edge.

“I think,” he began, taking a breath and trying to stay calm for both of their sakes, “that I’m in labor.”

Gwiboon’s shriek had Chanyeol holding the phone away from his ear for a couple of seconds.

“I”m coming home,” Gwiboon was saying, sounding harried like she was speed walking and trying to do eight things at once. “But I’m an hour away, so you should go to the hospital and I’ll meet you there.”

Chanyeol did not like the idea of going to the hospital alone and lying in some sterile bed with only his very large belly to keep him company. But he knew that Gwiboon was going to get there as soon as she could. There was nothing they could do.

“Call Baekhyun and have him come over and take a cab with you,” Gwiboon instructed before Chanyeol could agree. “He can stay with you until I get there.”

“But Baekhyun is at work,” Chanyeol argued, even though the thought of company was extremely appealing. 

“So what?” Gwiboon scoffed, and Chanyeol heard the sound of a car starting. She really was on her way. Everything was going to be fine. She was coming. “Surely he can take off early this one time. If not, call Jonghyun.”

“Okay,” Chanyeol agreed, feeling preemptive guilt at calling his best friend and asking him to miss work, but too greedy for someone to be there with him to not follow through. 

“If you can’t get ahold of either of them, call me right back,” Gwiboon told him, leaving no room for argument. Chanyeol was grateful that she seemed so in control right then when he was just trying to not freak the fuck out, because _oh my god the baby was coming_. “And text me when you get to the hospital, okay?” 

It was a plan, and that alone had Chanyeol feeling more steady as he hung up the phone and retrieved his packed bag from the bedroom as he dialed Baekhyun.

“I know you’re lounging on the couch eating bon bons, but some of us still have to work,” Baekhyun said as soon as he picked up, teasing.

“Baekhyun, I’m in labor,” Chanyeol interrupted, too focused on what he needed to do to fire back at Baekhyun’s jab. 

“Oh, shit,” Baekhyun immediately replied, tone turning serious. “Where’s Gwiboon? Did you call her?”

“No, I decided I’d rather talk to you than my mate,” Chanyeol said sarcastically. “She’s an hour away at a shoot. She’s on her way now, but I should go to the hospital now to be safe.”

“Fuck,” was Baekhyun’s ever-so-helpful reply. 

“I hate to ask this, but can you come with me to the hospital?” Chanyeol asked, twisting at the hem of his shirt as he waited for a response. 

“Of course!” Baekhyun exclaimed, and Chanyeol let out a breath. “I can grab a cab right now and pick you up. Are you ready?”

Chanyeol almost wanted to sob in relief. “Yeah, I’m all ready.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in less than ten,” Baekhyun assured him. “Keep that baby in while I’m en route.”

“You do know male omegas give birth via c-section, right?” Chanyeol asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Baekhyun griped, and Chanyeol couldn’t help the huff of laughter that escaped. It felt good to be laughing instead of panicking. “See you soon. I’ll text you when I’m close.”

It was going to be fine. He was going to get to the hospital, and he was going to have a baby.

Oh, shit. He was going to have a _baby_.

 

\---

 

“Does it hurt a lot?” Baekhyun asked, nose scrunched in sympathy as he watched Chanyeol breathe through a contraction. 

“Yeah, it’s starting to,” Chanyeol gusted out, relaxing as the contraction ebbed after a few moments.

It definitely wasn’t pleasant. 

Had he opted to schedule a c-section in advance, which was quite common for male omegas, he could have skipped the whole labor thing altogether. But he and Gwiboon had decided that they wanted to wait until Chanyeol’s body went into labor, and have the c-section that day. There was no health benefit either way, it was just a personal preference. Though Chanyeol couldn’t give birth the way a female beta or omega could, he wanted to have as much of the experience as possible.

Now, as he had to breathe through contraction after contraction, he was wondering _why_ he had wanted that. 

Technically, he could have gotten an epidural and gone into surgery as soon as he had arrived at the hospital, but he wasn’t going to let Gwiboon miss the birth of their daughter, so he was waiting it out.

In the case that Gwiboon was hours and hours late, he would have to let the doctors remove the baby before it became dangerous. But for the time being, it was safe for him to wait it out and feel the way his body was telling him that it was nearly time. 

“I am definitely going to schedule a c-section, so I don’t have to do this,” Baekhyun observed, eying the machine that was recording the baby’s heart rate like he was looking at an interesting museum display.

“Glad I could help,” Chanyeol said wryly, and Baekhyun gave him a thumbs up that had Chanyeol snorting out a laugh and rolling his eyes fondly. 

“But you can do it!” Baekhyun told him, changing tactics. “Gwiboon will be here any minute! Go go!”

Chanyeol raised his eyebrows.

Baekhyun shrugged. “Just trying to keep the energy up. But the good news is that you can totally hang this over the kid’s head later. Like, _you better be grateful because I was in labor with you before your mom got to the hospital, and I had to listen to Uncle Baekhyun talk that whole time_.”

Chanyeol let out a genuine laugh at that, happy to have his abdominals tensing from mirth and not pain. Baekhyun grinned triumphantly.

“How are we doing in here?” Dr. Zhang asked, stepping into the room and smiling at Chanyeol and Baekhyun in turn. “Still no Gwiboon?”

Chanyeol shook his head. “Still doing alright, though.”

“Good to hear,” Dr. Zhang said, studying the machine Baekhyun had been looking at earlier. “Everything looks fine, and we still have time. Do you have an estimate when Gwiboon will get here?”

“She texted a couple minutes ago and said she was ten minutes away,” Chanyeol supplied, eyes moving to the door hopefully as they had been doing since he’d gotten there. Not that he didn’t appreciate Baekhyun’s company, but he just wanted his mate, his alpha, to be there with him.

“We can give you your anesthetic now, if you’d like,” Dr. Zhang offered. “That way we won’t have to wait for it to work after Gwiboon gets here, and we can get things moving. Unless you’d rather experience a few more contractions?”

“Please, no,” Chanyeol groaned, and Yixing chuckled. 

“Alright, let’s get going, then.”

With a large and painful needle being inserted into his spine, Chanyeol grasped onto Baekhyun’s hands with all his might- wincing at the sting and the ache in his back. Definitely more painful than the contractions had been, so far.

“Ow,” Baekhyun complained when Chanyeol let go, shaking his hands out.

Chanyeol shot him an unimpressed look.

“But you win!” Baekhyun added, patting Chanyeol on the shoulder. 

“Chanyeol!” Gwiboon exclaimed, rushing through the door and to his side- cheeks pink from exertion and brows pinched in concern. “Baby. How are you doing? I’m so sorry I’m late.”

“It’s okay,” Chanyeol told her, relieved tears springing to his eyes. “I’m okay. I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too, baby,” Gwiboon said, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to his lips. 

“We’ll be able to start the surgery in a few minutes, once the spinal has started to take effect,” Dr. Zhang told Gwiboon when she’d pulled back and grabbed Chanyeol’s hand tightly in hers. “So sit tight and I’ll get everything prepared. You can stay for the operation,” he said, addressing Gwiboon, before turning to Baekhyun. “But I’m afraid you’ll have to wait in the waiting room.”

“That’s quite alright,” Baekhyun assured them all. “Good luck, Yeol. And I will be back when there is an adorable, tiny human to look at.”

“Thank you, Baekhyun,” Gwiboon said sincerely, stepping away from Chanyeol to give Baekhyun a hug that seemed to surprise the omega. “I really appreciate you being here with Chanyeol when I couldn’t be.”

“No problem,” he chuckled awkwardly. “I’m sure my presence was nothing but helpful.”

Chanyeol huffed out a laugh. He knew Baekhyun was intimidated by Gwiboon on the best of days, so the unexpected affection had clearly thrown him for a loop.

“I’m sure,” Gwiboon said wryly.

With a salute and another set of well wishes, Baekhyun was gone, and Chanyeol met Gwiboon’s eyes- feeling all the anticipation, fear, and excitement bubble up in his chest.

“You ready?” Gwiboon asked, squeezing one of Chanyeol’s hands with both of hers.

“Not at all,” he laughed, comforted by just Gwiboon’s presence. “But also, yes.”

Gwiboon pressed another kiss to his lips.

“Me too.”

 

\---

 

Everything felt a little like a dream, Chanyeol thought, as he leaned against the pillows in his hospital bed with Gwiboon perched next to him and their baby in her arms.

If it wasn’t for the slight pull of the stitches in his abdomen, he’d have been sure that this was all a dream and he was going wake up any minute at home, in bed, and still pregnant. 

The procedure hadn’t been too scary with Gwiboon holding his hand and a swath of fabric blocking his view of what was happening. But it was still a relief to hear those first, wailing cries from Seulgi’s mouth, knowing that she had safely entered the world. 

After the nurses had cleaned her off and made sure that nothing was wrong, Seulgi, still crying, was passed to Gwiboon, who promptly burst into tears herself. 

Chanyeol’s lashes were wet when Gwiboon bent down so he could see their daughter- red faced and angry to have been pulled from her nice, warm home in Chanyeol’s belly, but perfect. That little, squirming thing in a pink blanket was theirs to take home, and she was the best thing that Chanyeol had ever laid eyes on.

“She’s so perfect,” Chanyeol said for probably the eight hundredth time since he’d entered recovery, voice wavering with fresh tears when Gwiboon passed Seulgi to him.

“I know,” Gwiboon agreed softly so as not to wake their daughter. 

Her tiny hands were held in relaxed fists as she slept, and every now and again, her lips would part, teeny tongue peeking out, before she settled again.

Chanyeol wasn’t sure how his chest hadn’t burst open with how big his heart felt when he looked at her.

“I can’t believe we made her,” he marvelled, holding Seulgi to his chest and resting a hand lightly against her front to feel the rise and fall of her breaths. 

“No one else could have made such a perfect, little cherub, though,” Gwiboon pointed out, and Chanyeol chuckled even as a happy tear slid down his cheek.

“Knock, knock,” was said softly, and Chanyeol and Gwiboon looked up to see Jonghyun in the doorway with Baekhyun peering over his shoulder. 

“You can come in, but be quiet. She’s sleeping,” Gwiboon told them

“Guess you have to stay in the hall,” Chanyeol said to Baekhyun, and Baekhyun stuck his tongue out in a silent gesture of defiance against the jab.

“ _You guys_ ,” Jonghyun murmured as he came up to the bed to look at the bundle in Chanyeol’s arms. “She’s so precious.”

“She is,” Gwiboon agreed, smiling proudly as their best friends admired their baby. 

“Can I?” Jonghyun asked, eyes already looking suspiciously shiny. 

Chanyeol actually found himself looking to Gwiboon as though she might be opposed to anyone else holding her.

Gwiboon quirked a brow. “Jonghyun can hold her.”

“Sorry,” Chanyeol chuckled, holding Seulgi out for Jonghyun to lift from his arms, but Jonghyun didn’t seem offended. He didn’t even seem to have heard Chanyeol as he cradled Seulgi to his chest and gazed at her in wonder.

“Hi there, baby girl,” he cooed softly, and Gwiboon pressed closer to Chanyeol’s side as she happily watched her childhood best friend hold her daughter. “You’re the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.”

“He’s about to cry,” Baekhyun stage-whispered, and Jonghyun shot him a look even as the tears that had been filling his eyes spilled over. 

“She’s just so wonderful,” Jonghyun sobbed, and Baekhyun stepped up behind him and pressed against his back. 

“Chanyeol, she has your ears,” Baekhyun observed. “What?” he defended at Chanyeol’s look. “They’re cute on her!”

“You’ve seen your ears, right?” Gwiboon remarked. 

“Geez, I was just giving your baby a compliment,” he griped, arms wrapping around Jonghyun’s middle and chin hooked over his shoulder. 

Chanyeol felt like he might start crying all over again at the scene in front of him, and the fact that so many people he loved were in one room.

“She has Gwiboon’s eyes,” Jonghyun sniffled, and Gwiboon grinned.

“Sure, no one gets mad at that observation,” Baekhyun grumbled. 

Seulgi blinked her eyes open and started fussing shortly after that, but after Gwiboon lulled her back to sleep, Baekhyun was clamoring for his turn to hold her.

“Hi,” Baekhyun said softly, lips curving up as he took in her sleeping face. “I'm Uncle Baekhyun.”

Gwiboon snorted, and Baekhyun paused just long enough to huff before he continued.

“I'm your cool uncle,” he went on and Jonghyun whined at him, prodding him in the arm gently enough that it didn't upset his hold on Seulgi. Baekhyun’s eyes were laughing at his mate. “One day, you and I can have epic squirt gun battles. You're gonna be a natural, I can tell already. You and I can team up and destroy your dad. It'll be great.”

“Why do you think she's gonna be on your team?” Chanyeol quietly complained from the bed.

“Because I'm her cool Uncle Baekhyun,” he answered with a grin.

Once Baekhyun had filled Seulgi’s baby brain with a plethora of ways she could wreak havoc when she was old enough, it was getting late and Chanyeol was about ready to crash.

“Okay, Uncle Baekhyun,” Gwiboon teased, “give me my child back.”

Chanyeol felt a surge of warmth at the fact that he and Gwiboon truly had a child. He was in danger of crying again, but considering he’d been crying on and off for the last few hours- for the last few _months_ , really- he didn’t think anyone would be alarmed. 

“No, I'm not done yet,” Baekhyun whined, nuzzling against Seulgi’s cheek and cooing about how he was going to put her in his pocket and take her home.

“Pretty sure that's kidnapping,” Gwiboon said, shooting a look Jonghyun that seemed to say _please make your mate unhand my baby_.

Unfortunately, Jonghyun seemed more concerned with letting Seulgi grab his finger and exclaiming over how tiny her hands were.

Gwiboon sighed.

“At least we have willing babysitters?” Chanyeol offered, and Gwiboon laughed before turning her attention back to the pair who were coddling her offspring.

“Alright, Chanyeol needs to sleep,” Gwiboon announced, no nonsense, and Chanyeol was grateful. “If you want a baby this badly, then make your own.”

Two sets of wide eyes were on Gwiboon then, and she took the opportunity to pointedly hold out her arms for her daughter.

This time Baekhyun complied, though his pout and his theatrical sighs communicated his displeasure.

“We’re coming back to visit tomorrow,” Jonghyun promised, giving Chanyeol a one armed hug and Gwiboon a kiss on the cheek.

“I figured,” Gwiboon chuckled, allowing the two a couple more minutes of saying goodbye to Seulgi before shooing them out.

“Seulgi needs to eat,” Chanyeol sleepily told Gwiboon, reaching out and letting Seulgi hold onto his index finger.

“I was just going to find the nurse to get some formula,” Gwiboon assured him, getting up from the bed with Seulgi in her arms before bending down to press a gentle kiss to Chanyeol’s lips. “You should get some sleep.”

“Are you sure you don't need me?” Chanyeol asked, almost too tired to properly form the words. Now that all of the excitement was dying down, he began to realize just how exhausted he really was. 

“I’m sure, baby,” Gwiboon said. “You just rest.”

That was good because Chanyeol could feel his eyes closing, body relaxing into the uncomfortable hospital mattress.

His last thought before he fully succumbed to sleep was that he and and Gwiboon were truly parents now. 

Gwiboon told him later that he was smiling in his sleep.

 

\---

 

Three Years Later

 

\---

 

“You’re not welcome here!” Seulgi yelled, holding her stuffed dinosaur toy in front of her and attempting to kick it. She mostly missed, but seemed pleased with the result anyway.

Zooming by Chanyeol where he was setting the table, Seulgi was singing some song she made up. Chanyeol wasn’t quite sure what it had to do with dinosaurs or the tiara, tutu, and cape combo she was wearing, but from the looks of it, this was some kind of victory lap.

The doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” Gwiboon said, setting down the cloth she’d been using to wipe the kitchen counter and heading for the door.

Seulgi abruptly changed direction and took off after her mother, excited about their dinner guests. Chanyeol followed at a more sedate pace.

“Uncle Baekhyun!” she hollered. “Don’t worry! It’s safe! I slayed all the dragons!”

“Do you think I can’t fight dragons?” Baekhyun teased, stepping inside.

“I made it safe for the _baby_!” Seulgi exclaimed, looking at Baekhyun like he was stupid.

Baekhyun laughed, a hand reflexively going to his rounded belly. “Good thinking! You’re my hero.”

Seulgi beamed, grasping onto the hand Baekhyun had outstretched since he couldn’t bend down to greet her like he used to.

“Such a brave princess!” Jonghyun exulted, scooping Seulgi up and making her squeal happily. 

“I’m not a princess,” she corrected when she was settled, hands braced on Jonghyun’s shoulders.

“You’re not?”

Seulgi shook her head. “Mommy is the princess.”

Gwiboon laughed, stroking over Seulgi’s cheek with the backs of her fingers before she went back to getting the kitchen ready for guests.

“Is your daddy the prince?” Jonghyun asked, shooting a grin at Chanyeol.

“No, he’s a lion tamer,” she explained.

“Sounds reasonable,” Baekhyun interjected with a chuckle.

“And what are you?”

“A ballerina ninja!” she exclaimed, waving her arms around excitedly.

“Of course!” Jonghyun smacked his forehead.

Seulgi grinned, triumphant. 

“You can be the dragon queen,” she told Jonghyun.

“I thought you slayed the dragons.”

“Only the bad ones,” she said. “You can teach the other dragons to be good.”

“I’ll do my best,” Jonghyun promised, hefting her up on his hip and heading toward the kitchen.

“What am I?” Baekhyun asked eagerly, following and tugging on one of Seulgi’s pigtails. 

“You have a baby inside your tummy,” she reminded him. “You already have a job.”

Jonghyun burst out laughing, setting Seulgi on the floor when she wiggled to get down.

“Can’t I be a dragon at least?” Baekhyun asked, shooting the three year old an exaggerated pout.

Seulgi shrieked with laughter at his face.

“What if I’m having a dragon baby?” he prompted, trying a new tactic.

Seulgi’s eyes grew wide. “Are you?”

“No, he’s having a human baby,” Gwiboon interjected, not wanting Seulgi to start thinking that people could give birth to dragons.

“But we can pretend!” Baekhyun jumped in.

“The dragon queen has to teach your dragon to be a good dragon!” Seulgi pronounced, picking up the plush dinosaur from where it had been discarded earlier. “Here, we can practice with this.”

“I think she’s more prepared for the baby than you guys,” Gwiboon joked, herding Seulgi into the bathroom to wash her hands for dinner. 

“Maybe the dragon will be rainbow colors and shiny!” Seulgi was saying to Gwiboon even as Chanyeol heard the tap turn on.

“So, dragons this week?” Jonghyun asked Chanyeol, amused.

“And it breathes yellow fire, but it freezes everything it breathes on!” was heard from the bathroom. “Except if it breathes on a ballerina because ballerinas can’t get frozen from dragons because-”

“Among other things,” Chanyeol said wryly.

 

\---

 

“So you guys really aren’t going to find out the gender ahead of time?” Gwiboon asked after dinner and once Seulgi was in bed. 

“We don’t need Jonghyun sulking for a month if it’s not a girl,” Baekhyun joked.

“I would not!” Jonghyun protested. “I’ll be happy no matter what. Besides, I can always spoil Seulgi with cute, girly things.”

“Seulgi just likes everything,” Chanyeol agreed. 

“With Jonghyun buying her dolls and Baekhyun getting her plastic weapons, it’s no wonder she’s a ballerina ninja,” Gwiboon laughed. 

“Thanks to us, she’s very well rounded,” Baekhyun gloated.

“Not as well rounded as you,” Chanyeol said, referring to Baekhyun’s belly.

“That was a terrible joke,” Gwiboon told him, and Baekhyun nodded in agreement. 

A sweet kiss from Gwiboon stopped Chanyeol’s pouting.

“Should we leave you two to it?” Jonghyun asked, waggling his brows.

“That does sound nice,” Gwiboon admitted. “We just have to cross our fingers that Seulgi doesn’t come wandering into our room after a bad dream.”

Gwiboon gave Baekhyun a pointed glare.

“What?” he groused. “ _The Creature from the Black Lagoon_ isn’t scary. How was I supposed to know it would give her nightmares?”

“It gives _Jonghyun_ nightmares,” Gwiboon reminded him.

“But _everything_ gives Jonghyun nightmares,” Baekhyun argued.

“True,” Gwiboon acquiesced. 

Jonghyun huffed, indignant, from his spot next to Baekhyun on the couch.

“How about I take you home and make it up to you?” Baekhyun suggested, shooting Jonghyun a lascivious grin.

“Stop flirting on my couch,” Gwiboon told them, lip curled in disgust. 

Baekhyun stuck his tongue out even as Jonghyun helped him up.

“We’ll see you guys next week?” Chanyeol asked, seeing the two to the door.

“If this one hasn’t popped yet,” Jonghyun joked, hand on Baekhyun’s stomach as they stepped into the hall.

“I am a whole month away from my due date!” Baekhyun complained. “I am not gonna pop!”

“Maybe you will when I’m done with you-”

“Ew, bye,” Gwiboon said, closing the door in their faces before she had to hear the end of that sentence. 

Chanyeol guffawed. 

“Now,” Gwiboon said, stepping up close to Chanyeol and pressing him against the wall next to the door.

Their lips met easily, a _zing_ going through Chanyeol’s system as it did every time Gwiboon kissed him with intent. 

“Are you too tired?” Gwiboon asked, hands fisted in the front of Chanyeol’s shirt. 

Chanyeol shook his head, shivering when Gwiboon kissed him again.

“I’ll go check on Seulgi,” he finally got out. “And I’ll meet you in the bedroom.”

Gwiboon’s lips pulled up in a seductive smirk as she sauntered away, shooting Chanyeol a look over her shoulder that had his knees feeling weak.

Tiptoeing over to Seulgi’s room, Chanyeol eased the door open a crack to peer in at his sleeping daughter, a soft yellow glow from the night light illuminating her serene face. 

Sometimes,Chanyeol still couldn’t believe that he and Gwiboon had really made this angel. Or ballerina ninja.

Chanyeol’s heart was full as he watched her breathe, twitching slightly in her sleep and holding on tight to her favorite teddy bear. 

He was so lucky. He had a mate whom he loved even more than the day he asked her to claim him. And he had a beautiful daughter who was so much more than he could have ever dreamed. Even if she sometimes did result in some lost sleep. 

Chanyeol thought that he could stand and happily watch her sleep all night long, never tiring of just watching her _exist_.

But, he allowed, that might not have been the most practical use of his time. Especially since he needed to be well-rested for their trip to the zoo the following day.

Besides, Gwiboon was waiting.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written. And it's het. I don't know what's going on either. 
> 
> Thank you so much to Dal for looking this over for me! <3
> 
> Title from Foxes' _All I Need_.
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](http://g-odalisque13.tumblr.com/) if you are so inclined ^^


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